The Unexpected
by winddrinker
Summary: FROZEN FOR EDITING! What do you do with a disabled slayer? That's what Faith and the rest of the Council are trying desperately to figure out. But as they start to a series of bizarre murders begins. Is the new slayer really what she seems?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: That's it...you heard right! I am now the proud owner of....well, not much really. I guess I own the story idea and the original characters and that's about it....sigh. Ah well, it was a nice dream;)

...........

Bored out of her mind Faith Lehane stared out at the walls of the hotel room.. _Come on, Faith_, she thought to herself, _this is San Fransisco! You should be out there partyin' it up! _Normally, she would be. The dark-haired slayer just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. She was Faith, the rebel without a cause and all that crap, party girl...only not tonight. She and her team had been on the road, hopping from place to place, for six months now. She was tired. The rest of the girls had jetted out by now, reveling in their rare night of freedom. But for some reason she just couldn't get up the enthusiasm to go out and party.

_Maybe I'm getting old. _She sighed and rolled over on the queen-sized bed, thumping her head on her pillow. _This is crazy! I can't just sit here all night._ She jumped, scrambling after the phone as it provided a welcome distraction to her night time meanderings into her own sanity or lack there of. _Yes,something to do!_

"Yo," Faith answered.

"Oh Faith, thank the Goddess," Willow's eternally perky voice bubbled out over the phone. "I was afraid you weren't going to answer."

"What'd ya' need, Red?" the slayer rasped. "Where the hell are you, anyway? I thought you were off on some spirit quest or something."

"I'm near Bangladesh," the witch answered, "In India."

"Good connection," Faith commented.

"Yeah, magick's better than satellite," Willow smirked. "Anyway, I have a bit of a problem."

"What do you need killed, Red?" Faith asked, resigned.

"Huh? Oh no, not that kind of help. Though, thank you...for...the thought, I guess." Willow took a deep breath, audibly dragging herself back on track. "It's...we've had a slayer pop up right near you."

"Who died?" Faith asked grimly, preparing herself.

"See, that's the thing. _Nobody_ died," the red-head was dead serious.

Dubious, she asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah, that whole connection thing, remember?" An unintended consequence of the Activation Spell made Willow aware of all new slayer activations and all slayer deaths. While it made a real useful tool for locating the newbies, it also put a lot of strain on the witch. It wasn't something she liked to talk about.

"Yeah," Faith brushed the topic aside. She didn't really care how it happened anyway. There were better minds than hers that would figure that out. She was more of an action girl anyway. "So you want me to, what, go track the girl down? What about the locals?" Faith referred to the Watchers and slayers assigned to San Francisco.

"I called them already but I'm afraid they're busy tonight. Something to do with the blue moon and C'thra'tok demons."

Faith sighed, given the choice she'd rather deal with the demons. But she had learned to suck it up and deal in the past two years. _Rah Rah, go team_, Faith snorted. "Alright, Red. I'm not exactly the poster child for recruitment, but I'll go check it out for you. You gotta' place to search?"

"I actually have an address. Google Earth is awesome. It seems she's pretty stable," Willow told her. "Thank you, Faith. I was pretty worried, not to mention curious."

"Cool," Faith wrote down the address on a napkin she'd saved from dinner as Willow dictated it to her.

"Just call me back on this number when you find her?" Willow asked.

"A'right, Red." Faith flipped the phone closed and started getting dressed. _At least it's better than sitting around here having a pity party_, she grumbled to herself, _been doin' too much of that lately. _Grabbing the atlas she kept around, she plotted the best course to get to the address Willow had provided her. Finding new slayers was so much easier now that Willow had more control over her powers. No more running around town looking like an idiot while carrying a dowsing rod. Thank God Andrew finally came up with the idea of enchanting compasses. Probably one the smarter things he'd ever done. Now though, the witch seemed to be able to pinpoint the exact location of the slayers down to a few feet. There was something to be said for being connected to the Earth and all Zen like.

Faith slipped on her jacket, grabbed her helmet and the Scythe and walked out the door. Straddling her bike, Faith couldn't help but grin as it rumbled to life beneath her. She loved that feeling. The bike, a Buell 1125CR, was the first purchase she'd made after getting her first paycheck from the Council. She loved it, the feeling of freedom and release she got from riding it. Plus, she knew she looked damn hot on it. Going to the highway, Faith weaved through traffic and made her way to the Berkley area. The damn streets were confusing as hell but luckily she had a slayer's sense of direction. That, and a map.

The neighborhood their mystery slayer lived in was an upscale one. Filled mostly with faculty for the university, made up of trendy townhouses and the old-fashioned painted ladies that San Francisco was infamous for. Huge old trees lined the somewhat cracked sidewalks and one of the lampposts flickered slightly in the dark, needing to be changed. Faith could even see lightning bugs in the yards. _It's like being in the fuckin' Midwest or something. Wonder if there are any cows out here? _

Counting the numbers on the houses, Faith finally found the one she was looking for, 1512 Old Creek Rd. It was a bit of a newer model townhouse. There was a small gated yard in the front and a ramp as well as stairs that led up to the wooden door. Faith kicked her bike's stand down and pulled off her helmet, shaking out her lustrous dark hair. Wishing deeply,but not out loud that she still smoked, she flipped her leg up over the bike and stood on the sidewalk. The slayer had never done much in the way of normal recruitment. They only brought her in when the girls had issues.

Faith was like the poster child of reformation for the Council. She couldn't complain, at least not too much. It actually felt good to help somebody for a change. To push them away from the path she'd taken and back onto at least the straight, if not so narrow. All of her squad was made up of those types of girls, the ones that had no interest in school, just fighting. One's who didn't quite fit in with the rest of the slayers.

Shaking her head at the nonessential thoughts, Faith walked up the path to the stairs. _Somebody must be taking care of the gate_, she thought fleetingly, '_cause it didn't squeak at all_. She wasn't really worried about her bike or the Scythe. She'd paid off one of the shamans from the Council to put a "no-see-me spell" on the Scythe. It made it much easier to walk around in public with the 2ft something Scythe and all for the low-low price of two bottles of prime Tequila straight from Mexico.

Climbing the stairs Faith knocked on the door, running her hand though her hair in an unconsciously nervous gesture. She cocked a hip and waited for someone to answer. A minute later, when the door opened, and she looked down at the woman who was undoubtedly a slayer according to her senses, Faith was no longer bored but she was definitely confused. The woman was older than her, probably around twenty-five. That was odd in and of itself considering all the newbies called now were under the age of twelve. But there was another problem. Their new slayer was in a wheelchair.

"What the fuck?!" Faith rasped out.

.....................

Author's Note:

Hello again! First off I'd like to thank Whedonist for being my beta once again and for all the wonderful suggestions for this story, like the bike and yes, you were right about the spell thingie.

So, as some of you might have noted, this is a prequal to Empowered. I know you were hoping for a sequal and don't worry, it will happen. But this story kept telling me it wanted to happen first;)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm sitting here trying to think of something funny....but nothing's really coming to mind. So I don't own Buffy and now I think I'm going to listen to sad music and pout in the corner=(

.......

The two women stood there staring at each other for a moment. Or at least one of them was standing. Elspeth Harsgrove was staring up at the strange young woman who was on her porch from her position in her chair, very confused. Then that confusion turned to irritation as the dark-haired woman kept standing there, staring. Elspeth got enough looks outside. She wasn't going to take that shit while she was at home, too.

"Take a picture, sweetie," she snapped and swung the door closed, "It'll last longer!"

At least she tried to slam the door closed. The dark-haired woman's hand flashed out and stopped the heavy, wooden door before it could close on her. Elspeth couldn't get enough leverage to try and push back so she was left there, sitting, while the other woman pushed the door back open. Rift came up to her side and Elspeth buried her hand in his thick fur. The intruder looked a little bad-ass, but just about everyone was scared off by seventy-five pounds of German Shepard.

"Sorry 'bout that," her intruder spoke with a low, raspy voice. "You weren't what I was expecting."

"You're not exactly Princess Diana, either," Elspeth shot out.

"Yeah," the stranger drawled, a smirk coming onto her face. "Anyway, I need to talk to you."

"Of course," Elspeth drew out sarcastically, "'Cause I always invite in strange women dressed in leather that show up on my porch at ten o'clock at night."

The woman cocked a brow and nodded, "Fair enough. Look, here's my card. Feel free to check me out or whatever. Just give me a call tomorrow as soon as you can. We need to talk about your future."

The dark-haired woman pulled a crisp, white business card out of her jeans' pocket and handed it to Elspeth. Then, without another word, she turned on her booted heel and walked off the porch and out to the street. Elspeth looked down at the card that had been shoved unceremoniously into her hand and blinked. In the middle, in bold black print were the letters **IWC**. Beneath it was a toll-free phone number. To the bottom and the right was the name, Faith Lehane, and below it was a cell phone number.

"What could the IWC possibly need from me?" Elspeth muttered, finally closing the door. Tomorrow promised to be interesting.

…_.._

_Tonight is gonna blow_, Faith decided as she settled into her chosen spot on top Elspeth Harsgrove's roof. She'd finally gotten the woman's name by emailing the address to a Watcher back in Cleveland. Blackberries were handy little buggers. She'd also asked for a background check on her, but that would take a little longer to get. So for now she was stuck up on this woman's roof, making sure that she didn't go and get herself killed. Faith really didn't think that Elspeth would be going out anywhere tonight and even if she did, the chances of anything happening were pretty slim, but she couldn't take that chance. _Always works out that if I don't stay here and babysit, something'll happen Willow will get disappointed and pouty-like and I'm not gonna be on the receiving end of that woman's grudge._ Tucking her feet up under her, she toyed the hem of her pants. Faith pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and scrolled through the menu looking for something to do. Deciding to play Block Breaker, she settled in and started the game up. Sighing, Faith mumbled, "Murphy sucks."

….........

"So I had the most interesting night last night," Elspeth told her friend Jackie the next day at lunch.

Lunches between her and Jackie had become a tradition ever since they had bonded on her first day of work at Berkley. During the teachers' meeting one of the male professors had made a crack about women in academics and Elspeth had calmly and coldly ripped him a new one. Jackie had come up after the meeting and invited her to lunch in admiration of a job well done. They'd been doing it every day since.

"Did you finally get laid?" Jackie asked calmly, sipping her tea.

"That has nothing to do with this," Elspeth sputtered, eying the slim blond. Jackie was thirty-two and went through men like toilet paper. Elspeth loved her friend, but she also acknowledged that her priorities were a little twisted.

"Anyway," she continued with her story, playing with the straw in her iced coffee, "I had a visitor last night, around ten. Some girl in leather showed up on my porch just as I was about to go to bed."

"Wait a minute," Jackie leaned forward, interested, "I thought you said you _didn't_ get laid."

Elspeth thought over her last statement for a moment and then shook her head in irritation. "Okay, I'll give you that. But focus here. She didn't come to sleep with me. Trust me," the brunette professor of history frowned at the straw that had suddenly snapped in her fingers, "If you'd seen her, you'd know that _really_ wasn't the reason she was there."

"Stop that," Jackie scowled at her, "Just cause you're in that chair does not mean you're unattractive."

"Yeah, I'm a real catch. Crippled and cynical, who could resist?" Elspeth dismissed her friend's words, her hand dipping into the pouch on the side of her wheelchair and pulling out a red plastic yo-yo. With an unconscious grace she flipped it out in the middle of the restaurant and began swinging it back and forth. "Anyway, she gave me this card and told me to call her today."

"And yet again I'm brought back to asking you about sex," Jackie said, sighing internally at the other woman's lack of confidence in her appearance.

Give Elspeth an academic arena and she had enough confidence to take on the Steelers defensive line. But in the arena of human relations she had the confidence of a slug. To cover that, the dark haired woman had developed a prickly exterior that usually scared everyone away before they could get near her. Everyone but Jackie. Jackie appreciated prickly.

"God," Elspeth flicked the yo-yo out, dancing it along the ground. Rift, laying next to her in his "Please don't pet me, I'm working." vest, merely flicked an ear at the object that missed his head by a few millimeters. He was used to his mistress's odd habits by now. "Can't you think about anything else? Look at the stupid card!"

Jackie glanced at the black and white card that Elspeth slapped on the table with her free hand. Then she took a second glance as the letters translated themselves in her mind. The blond almost spit her tea out.

"The IWC!" Jackie practically screeched. "What the hell...?"

"That's what I thought," Elspeth's hand sped up, the yo-yo going so fast it was starting to blur. "I mean, what could they want with me?"

"What couldn't they want with you?" Jackie flapped her hand at her friend, feeling both proud and, if she admitted it, a little jealous. She pushed it aside, this was her friend. "The IWC is the top authentication and antiquities company in the world, Elspeth. They're the cream of the crop. Of course they'd want you. I'm just surprised they didn't come after you sooner."

"So I take it you think I should call," Elspeth said wryly.

"If nothing else," Jackie shrugged negligently, "You could ask the hot leather chick they sent to recruit you on a date."

There was a _twang_ and a crash as the yo-yo went zipping through the air and through a glass across the store. Rift whined and put his paws over his head as Elspeth stared down at her hand. The snapped string was still looped around her finger. Snorting in disgust, she grumbled, "They just don't make yo-yo's like they used to."

….............

_Jesus,_ Faith grunted as she looked over the file that had been emailed to her, _this girl should be a Watcher, not a slayer._ Elspeth Harsgrove, age twenty-three, double doctorate in European History and Comparative Politics from Princeton University. She had graduated at age seventeen, having been shuffled off to private schools for the gifted since she'd been six.

It sounded great, but then Faith got to reason she'd been shipped off. At the age of four, Elspeth had become a ward of the state when the station wagon her parents' and she had been in had been plowed into by a drunk driver. She'd been lucky, if you could call it that. Two years of surgeries, lots of intensive therapy and some half-attentive counselor noted that little Elspeth was reading War and Peace instead of watching Sesame Street. The scholarship offers had poured in after her test scores had come in and off she'd gone into the world, alone.

Faith sipped her Coke and eyed the woman in the restaurant across the street. She didn't really look like a super-nerd. The chair made her seem smaller than the five feet five inches her profile said she was. Soft, dark brown hair fell about her face in a pageboy cut. A sleeveless blouse showed off well proportioned arms and the flowy skirt made her fit in with the hippy crowd that hung around the University of California-Berkley area. A little mousy, but not unattractive. She had a pair of dagger-like green eyes though, Faith smirked as she remembered them glaring at her last night. Miss Brainiac had a slayers' temper.

Faith shifted in her chair suddenly and made a sound deep in her throat as she looked back down at her Blackberry. It seems someone else had had the same thought Faith had had. Elspeth Harsgrove had been marked down as a potential watcher. Faith scrolled down some more and frowned. It seemed she'd been eliminated from the list when the news of her disability had been discovered. She'd been deemed as 'un-recruitable' because the Council had thought she would be a hindrance in the field.

_I'm gonna have to find out who signed off on this and hit him really hard,_ Faith snorted. They had plenty of positions that never even required field service. The Council was still in desperate need of trained Watchers. The bomb the First had placed had wiped out to many of them. _It's not like we can afford to shut people out 'cause of some stupid egghead's bigotry._ The dark-haired slayer looked down as her Blackberry started vibrating in her hands. Looking at the display she snorted, "Speak of the devil."

Pressing the Blue-Tooth in her ear, she answered after the third ring, "This is Faith."

"Good Afternoon, Miss Lehane," Elspeth's voice came over the speaker like she was right next to Faith rather than across the street. "I've checked out your story. What can I do for you?"

"Right to the point," Faith grinned. "I like that. Listen, this is a face to face kind of thing. I've got a few things to do today. Can I stop by your place later tonight, say seven."

There was a moments pause and Faith could almost feel the prickly woman thinking it over, deciding whether to take offense at Faith's presumption. Then the sound of someone else speaking in the background came up and Elspeth spoke again. "Sure, I'll see you then."

"Sweet, see you then," Faith signed off and sighed. Now came the hard part.

............................

Author's Note:

Hello again,

I wish to apologize for not getting this chapter out a lot faster. I'll just give you one reason. BORYEONG MUD FESTIVAL!!! So much fun...ah well.

But on to business. Here is the next chapter in the story, I hope you like it. For those of you who might be new to my writing, I like the journey as much as the ending, so sit back, hold on, and here we go!

OMAKE:

Faith - (on top of Elspeth's roof) I'm bored...

whhheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Faith - (takes a swing) F-ing mosquitoes!

whhheeeeeeeeeeeee! whhheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Faith - (slapping ineffectively) Who do you think your messing with! I kill bigger things than you in my sleep!

whhheeeeeeeeeeeee! whheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Faith - (more slapping) Come here you little....oh s---t!

Elspeth - (hears THUD outside!) What was that?!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: _"The aliens! It was the aliens that made me do it! They told me it was mine! Mwahahaha!"_

Okay, I'm done. Go read the story now....shoo!

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**Chapter 3**

"Congratulations, you're a super hero. You get to fight for your life and possibly be eaten alive at a very young age. The public will never know about you and if they ever did they'd more likely freak than thank you. Welcome to your new life" Faith snorted as she walked up the sidewalk to Elspeth's house once again. "Like that's gonna go over well."

The problem, Faith decided, was that she wasn't very nice. She could get on better with the girls who were more likely to deck her after being told this than the ones that would break down and cry. The ones like Elspeth Harsgrove. The woman was a college professor for god's sake. She had a life. She wasn't like some teenager or kid who could think of it all as a grand adventure. _She's also, _Faith acknowledged,_ a lot more likely to call the cops on the crazy woman telling her she has to go hunt vampires._

The slayer knocked on the door, her posture unconsciously dropping into a defiant slouch, still muttering to herself. _I might just have to call in the big guns here._ She had called Willow last night while on the roof and the redhead had babbled on for what seemed for hours, spouting theories about why Elspeth was a slayer, what had happened to her and god only knows what else. Faith finally just held the phone away from her ear and let the witch talk, interjecting an occasional grunt. _Maybe I should have paid a little more attention. _She was jolted out of her reverie as the door opened.

_"_Hello again," Elspeth greeted her, staring up from her chair.

_"_Hey," Faith nodded and then figured she should be polite, "Thanks for seeing me."

_"_No problem." Elspeth rolled around and headed toward the family room. "Come on in."

Faith sauntered in, eying the place. It was pretty nice. A far cry from the tiny, cramped trailer Faith had shared with her mother and whatever boyfriend of the week she'd been hosting. The slayer shoved back the stab of reflexive terror as memories tried to crowd forward, focusing instead on the house before her. There was a steep stair way almost directly across from the door with a lift for Elspeth's chair folded up against the wall. The foyer led directly into the living room and Faith could see through to the kitchen over the bar. The place had been modified a bit to accommodate a wheelchair, but not by much.

"Take a seat," Elspeth motioned to the lone couch that was positioned against one wall and the single, comfy looking Lay-Z-Boy. Across from them was a flat-screen T. V. mounted to the wall with an entertainment center below it. The room was done in soft creams with tones of green and brown to accent. There were photographs on the wall, nature scenes with the odd black and white mixed in. There was an almost conspicuous lack of family photos.

Since Rift had immediately thrown himself onto the Lay-Z-Boy upon entering the room and was now eying her from his curled up position, Faith decided the couch was her best option. The moments seemed to stretch out as she dropped herself onto it, taking the time to shove her hair back and then finally turn to face the other woman who was sitting across from her, silently waiting. _Might as well just jump in feet first_, Faith shrugged and opened her mouth.

"Do you want something to drink?" Elspeth shot out before Faith could speak. "I've got Coke, iced-tea and juice, apple I think."

"Uh, a Coke'd be fine, thanks." Faith shifted on the couch. She hated situations like these. She didn't know how to act when people were polite and friendly. It made her feel all weird inside.

Elspeth wheeled out to the kitchen and came back into the living room after rummaging around in the fridge for a moment. She passed Faith a can of Coke and then rolled herself over to her former spot next to Rift's chair, reaching out to absentmindedly stroke his head. The two had obviously been together a long time. "Thanks," Faith gestured with the can and popped the top, taking a sip. "So I suppose I should just tell you why the hell I'm here. You should know that recruitment isn't usually my thing, I'm a field agent. If this were a normal meeting you'd be getting one of the guys in suits that do this all the time. Unfortunately for both of _us_, they're all busy right now. So you get stuck with me, sorry."

"So the IWC is trying to recruit me," Elspeth's chin went up, ignoring the rest of the slayer's statement.

"Yeah...wait, you know about the IWC?" Faith stared at the other woman in confusion. There had been no mention of contact in the file that she'd read. Maybe this would be easier than she'd thought.

"Well you're only the world leader in antiquities and historical research," Elspeth said somewhat sarcastically, popping Faith's small bubble of hope.

"Oh that," Faith flipped a hand and settled back down, "Yeah, yeah. High muckity-mucks of the tweed world, that's us."

"I've always wanted to know," Elspeth asked, curious about the other woman's dismissive attitude of her own employer, "What does IWC stand for? I keep asking and no one can tell me."

"Heh," the dark-haired slayer rasped and sipped at her Coke, "That's as good a place to start as any. It stands for International Watchers Council."

"International Watchers Council," Elspeth mused, her nose crinkling a bit. "What does Watchers stand for?"

_Straight to the point_, Faith sighed, "Okay, here's where my not being a normal recruiter is gonna make this hard. So I'm gonna ask that you let me get this shit out and not interrupt and go away screaming, 'cause I can promise you proof at the end, 'kay?"

"Alright," Elspeth was intrigued despite herself. The main reason she'd gotten into history was because she loved a good story and this one seemed like it might be a good one.

"Right," Faith cast about for where to start and finally figured that that overused line was probably the best after all. "The world didn't begin like the story books say..."

…........

Faith mentally braced herself for the screaming to begin as she ended the story of how the new Council had come to be. _And damn, that thing's a lot longer and more fucking complicated than I thought it was._ She'd omitted a few things, of course. Didn't go into details about her own screw-ups too much, choosing instead to focus on Buffy and her exploits. _No need to give the girl anymore reason to go calling the cops on me_.

"I'd like that proof you offered at the beginning, please," Elspeth blinked a few times and then spoke.

"That's it?" Faith had to ask. "No screaming or...or throwing shit at me...just proof?"

"Yes," Elspeth cocked her head, letting the other woman think she was perfectly calm and confident. _Because if she's right, and I hardly think the IWC would have made it this far by letting their agents run around acting crazy...if she's right? If she's right, I'm going to need all the calm I can get._

"'Kay, give me a sec'," Faith stood up and reached into her pants' pocket, coming up with a Blackberry. She punched something into the keypad. "We need to go over to the front door. They'll be coming up that way."

"They...," Elspeth shook her head and rolled after Faith, "They who?"

"Them," Faith opened the door wide open, allowing Elspeth to see a nondescript brown van to pull up in front of her house. The side of it read "Mike's Plumbing!" in large, white letters and had a picture of a plunger on either side of the sentence. The side door rolled open and a medium sized blond girl dressed in jeans and a t-shirt jumped out.

In her right hand she held the end of a chain, which she jerked sharply as she got out, pulling a large black man out of the van behind her. The chain in her hand went to a metal collar that had crosses engraved in it and encircled his neck. His hands were also bound with iron manacles and there was a ball gag shoved in his mouth. Giving him no time to settle, the girl strode rapidly forward, practically dragging him behind.

"What is she do...?" Elspeth began.

"What, you want your neighbors to see us draggin' a chained up dude into your house?" Faith asked her.

"Not re...that's not the point!" Elspeth protested.

"Here," the girl thrust her end of the chain into Faith's hands, eying Elspeth curiously. "One vamp, bagged and tagged. As ordered. You need anything else?"

"Nah," Faith shook her head, "You guys go out and have fun, I got this."

"Cool," with one last curious glance at Elspeth, which was returned with an icy stare, the girl left.

"What is this, Faith?" Elspeth spoke the other woman's name for the first time.

"This is your proof," Faith smirked. "Watch."

As Faith spoke, the man was staring at her with wide, scared eyes, imploring her to do something. Elspeth wanted to protest, to say something that would make Faith let the poor guy go. Maybe call the police. But at the same time she was becoming aware of a sick, cramping feeling in her belly. It felt as if every muscle in her body was clenching up, screwing tighter and tighter. She had a horrible urge to reach out and snap the man's neck, to beat him senseless, to rend and tear him apart and at the same time she had never been more scared in her life.

"The feeling is natural," Elspeth looked up to see Faith looking at her with oddly sympathetic eyes, the first real emotion she'd seen in the other woman's dark eyes. "We all get it. It's what warns us something bad is around. The girls call it their "Spidey Sense". I call it the shit that keeps me alive. We'll train you how to recognize it, to use it. But first, the demonstration."

_It can't be real...It can't be real...It can't be..._

"Lesson the first," Faith began, "This is a vampire. Vampires don't always appear like the nasty bloodsuckers they are. But," the slayer reached down to her waist and pulled out a small glass vial of clear liquid. Then she took a sip and shook it, "You're basic Holy Water," and splashed it on the man's face.

His panicked eyes widened, he screamed as well as he could and hunched over. Elspeth's mouth opened and closed a bit as his face began to smoke and peel. He threw back is head and his entire face morphed and changed. No longer was he helpless and vulnerable, but now brutal and full of rage. He tried to leap at Elspeth but was brought up short as Faith cruelly yanked back on the chain.

_Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I don't want to know..._

"Lesson the second," Faith walked into the house, dragging the still smoking...thing behind her. Suddenly she was pulled up short as the man stopped, blocked by some invisible forcefield from entering Elspeth's home. "Vampires cannot enter a home uninvited. This is also true for some demons, but not all. Best bet, never ask anyone into your home again. As long as you don't say it, it ain't real. Public buildings don't count for shit though. Go ahead and invite him in, the neighbors might start getting curious."

_I don't care...just leave..._

"Right...come on in," Elspeth got out, she was drifting as if in a dream, and rolled backward into the hall. Rift came up beside her, almost growling low in his throat. Elspeth looked at him in surprise. Helper dogs were trained extensively not to bark or show aggression.

The man...no, vampire was pulled along by Faith through the house and into the backyard. Elspeth stayed numbly on the porch as Faith positioned the vampire on the back lawn. "Lesson the third, vamps go poof when they die and ash is bad on carpet. Now watch." Then Faith reached out pressed her finger to the manacles on the vampire's hands, releasing him.

"You beat me, you're free," the slayer told him calmly.

_This shouldn't be happening. How'd these people get in my home...my backyard? Why did she bring him here? I don't want to see this...I don't want to here it. Don't tell me these things...don't show them to me..._Something inside her was crumpling and dying.

There was a moment's hesitation and then both opponents leaped forward. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't flashy, and it in no way looked like any of the fights Elspeth had ever seen in any T.V. show or movie. The fight was quiet, shockingly fast and extremely vicious. Faith was rocked back on her heels as the vampire slugged her in the face.

There was a wet crunching sound and blood flew onto the grass. Then the slayer grinned, licked her bloody lip and met his next blow with an open palm, stopping him and sending him flying with his own momentum. She stayed with him, straddling his torso and slamming down with the small wooden stake she had plucked from her boot. It went in with a sound like a wet melon cracking open and then Faith's opponent stiffened and turned to dust beneath her, blowing away in the wind and dropping her to the ground. She got up quietly and stood staring at Elspeth with dark eyes, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth..

_So now we see,_ Faith brought her eyes up to look at the other woman from across the length of the yard, waiting for her response. She felt her own eyes widen a bit and then narrow. There was an almost dead look in the crippled slayer's eyes, a stark contrast from the challenging, snapping green that had been there before. The dark-haired slayer felt a rush of recognition. _I ought to know it, I've seen it often enough in the mirror._ _Guess I'm just a little sad to see it on her_.

"What do you expect me to do with that?" Elspeth's voice was cold and shook a little."You come here and tell me I'm supposed to be some kind of...some kind of superhero or something? That I might have been destined to save the world at one point in time..._Fucking look at me!"_

_.........................._

Author's Note:

Yo, what's up?! Alright, I'll stop trying to be hip and stuff. Anyway, I want to thank all the people that have been reading this story and Empowered and reviewing and stuff. I've been trying to respond to everyone's reviews but I don't always get it done and I'm sorry. So here's a general shout out to everyone, "YOU'RE WONDERFUL! THANK YOU!"

Later,

WD


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Faith does not belong to me...Get your minds out of the gutter people! My intentions were completely honorable...I think;)

..................

Chapter 4

"_Fucking look at me!"_

Elspeth's last words hung in the air. She slapped the rails of her wheelchair in frustration as a tremble of rage went through her. She swallowed, struggling for the words. Her fingers flexed in and out, nails digging into the padding of her chair. "I...I used to wake up every morning hoping it was a nightmare. That I'd be able to jump out of bed and go...just go walk down to the gas station or something. I'd have these dreams that the doctors would come up with this radical new procedure...or...or my _fucking fairy-godmother_ would come and wave her magic wand and poof! I'd be able to walk and all the pain a...and pure stupidity of it would just go away."

"When I was a kid...," she laughed, her voice cracking, "When I was a kid I'd make up these stories about where I'd go and what I'd do when I could finally walk. But as the years kept coming...I stopped writing. I'm no slayer or hero or whatever, Faith, don't come here and try to tell me I am."

Elspeth turned her chair and rolled back inside her house, Rift following after. The crippled slayer didn't even note the sound of the door clicking shut as the dog pushed it closed behind her.

"Well," Faith, left alone in the backyard, rasped and casually tilted her head to the side and scratched behind her ear, "All and all that could have gone a shit load worse."

Thedark-haired slayer shrugged and walked up to the porch. Giving a leap, she grabbed hold of the edge of the roof and pulled herself up and over. Truthfully, she wasn't all that disappointed with Elspeth's reaction. _Girl's had a lot of shit dumped on her_, Faith sighed and rolled over on her back, pulling out her Blackberry. _I shouldn't be surprised she freaked a little. Still, she didn't start screaming hysterically and calling in the National Guard, so I'd say it's a step in the right direction._

Selecting Bejeweled for tonight's entertainment, the slayer settled in for another night of endless entertainment. Tomorrow was Saturday; _I'll drop in in the morning and greet our resident lucky girl. I'm sure that will provide loads of fun. _Grinning wickedly, Faith flipped a red jewel over into line and listened to the mechanical tinkle as the line disappeared and more fell into place. She was, oddly enough, looking forward toward the morning.

…..............

Elspeth mechanically went through the process of loading her chair on the lift and rode up the stairs in a daze, not even the irritating whine of the lift engine getting through to her. When she reached the top, she popped the straps off absentmindedly and rolled down the hall to her room. Once inside she went immediately over to the large dresser on the left side of the room and opened the top, center drawer. Ignoring Rift's pitiful whining, Elspeth stared down at the small box in the bottom of the drawer.

_I guess I shouldn't use it tonight_, she thought almost absently to herself. The urge was strong tonight, almost overwhelming, but she couldn't. Faith didn't strike her as the type to give up so easily. She might still be hanging around. _There's always the possibility I might get caught before I finished. No,_ she decided a little sadly, pushing the drawer closed, _not tonight._

…_........._

"Morning, Lucky Girl," Elspeth glared up at Faith's smiling face. The 8 a.m. light causing the natural highlights in Faith's hair to shine. _Like __I__ need a-perfect-shining-example-of-what-I'm-not staring at me first thing in the morning. _

"I asked you to leave." Elspeth tried to slam the door again, sighing as Faith stopped it as easily as she had the day before.

"Ain't that easy, Lucky Girl," Faith practically sneered and kicked the door open gently or what passed for gently in Faith's mind. Sauntering past Elspeth and giving Rift a pat on the head, the dark-haired slayer strolled toward the kitchen. "C'mon, I brought coffee and donuts. We've got a few more things to discuss."

"I thought I told you last night that I wanted to be left alone." Elspeth found herself chasing the aggravating woman into her own home. _Why won't she take no for an answer, _the professor fumed, _and what's with that annoying nickname?!_

"You did," Faith smirked, "I just don't care. There's things about this you don't know yet, Lucky Girl. Trust me, if I could blow out of here, I would. Places to go, things to kill...."

"Then why don't you?" Elspeth huffed.

Faith eyed the crippled slayer as she jumped up onto the woman's counter and seated herself comfortably. _She looks a little better this morning_, Faith decided, _angry is always better than resigned._ The slayer sighed inside, if it came to the truth she really did want to leave this woman alone. Being Chosen was hard enough by itself, with the added complication of Elspeth's disability it might just destroy someone.

….....

_"Lady, you're fucking crazy!" A sixteen year old Faith Lehane told Diana Dormer. The lady had just shown up today and yanked Faith out of her mother's home, waving official papers. Not taking no for an answer. _

_Faith had tried to run, her mom really sucked as a mom, but she was all the family Faith had. She hadn't even made it out of the car before the lady had sped off, the wheels of her ugly sedan actually making black marks on the pavement. Now she was sitting across from Faith telling her something about vampires and how Faith might be chosen in the future to fight evil. The woman was obviously off her rocker._

_"I assure you, Faith," Diana Dormer told her with a sort of posh accent that Faith had only ever heard on TV., "I am quite serious. I do not make jokes about such things."_

_"Yeah," Faith smirked, "You don't strike me as joking about much at all."_

…_......._

And hadn't that been a bitch of a time, Faith smirked a little at the memory. She'd had Diana running around like a crazy person for the three months before she'd been Chosen. She hadn't really believed what Diana had said about being a slayer. Oh, she'd gone through the motions and even staked a few vampires, free meals and all, but she'd never once thought she'd be Chosen. She still wasn't quite sure why she had been.

"I'm not leaving 'cause I still got things to say," Faith told Elspeth harshly, pushing aside her pity. As much as she might feel sorry for the other woman, Elspeth didn't need sympathy right now. "And you're gonna listen, 'cause if you don't, it's likely you'll be dead as soon as I skip out of this town, Lucky Girl."

"Eh?" Elspeth was caught back. This whole morning wasn't going anything like it was supposed to. _It's my Saturday, why am I here being pushed around by some woman in tight clad...Oh, my God Elspeth, get those thoughts out of your head right now!_

"See, I don't know exactly why you've been activated now," Faith's voice snapped her back from her self-castigation. "I'm sure the egg-heads back home will come up with at least a hundred theories, but that doesn't matter. The main problem we have right now is that once a slayer's gone active, she starts draggin' in every badie within a ten mile radius."

"Oh God," Elspeth said once the words finally sunk in, "You mean...?"

"You just became the number one appetizer in town, Lucky Girl, and as you are now...," Faith trailed off, allowing the other woman to fill in the implications herself.

"I'm helpless," Elspeth gave a bleak smile as a sense of inevitability filled her. It was almost calming really. She really had no idea what to say next and all that seemed to fill her head was the horrible line, _Well, guess that gives new meaning to the phrase, 'Meals on Wheels', doesn't it?_

Author's Note:

I am going to use the birth date for Faith that is given in the Angel Files and also the novel Go Ask Malice. I realize that it's un-canon, but it really is the firmest date that I could find out there. I also realize this goes against popular opinion that Faith was younger than Buffy, it actually put her at one month older, but after thinking about it I worked it into the story anyway. The time-line basically goes that Faith was picked up by her Watcher near the end of her sixteenth year and was with her for about three months before she was Chosen. I'm sure there might be something wrong with my time-line somewhere but I still usually count on my fingers here people, a math genius I am not.

Also, I am using the name Diana Dormer, also taken from Go Ask Malice, but any other similarities to the book are complete coincidence. Mainly because I haven't actually read the book yet. I didn't find out about it 'till after I moved and it's really hard to find any book in English over here unless it's Harry Potter or Twilight!

The novel Go Ask Malice, is presented as Faith's diary taking place at the same time as Buffy Season 2. It has her 17th birthday on December 14th 1997 (meaning she's born December 14th 1980). Meaning according to this (uncanon) source she is about one month older than Buffy. -- Paxomen 15:02, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

In mid-1998, Diana Dormer's diary refers to "...the occasion of the Cruciamentum approaching." Since the Cruciamentum is on a Slayer's 18th birthday, it implies Faith was 17 at the time, confirming the birth year of 1980.

_.org/wiki/Talk:Faith_Lehane/Archive_1_


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Seriously, stop staring at me like that...I've got nothing behind my back, I swear!!!

_**CHAPTER FIVE**_

(One week later)

_What the hell am I doing here?_ Elspeth rolled off the ramp and into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. A sign above her declared that she was located in Concourse C and others pointed her in the direction of Concourses A, B, and D, as well as the exit. _What if I want to go back to San Fransisco? What direction do I go then? _Huffing to herself, the wheelchair bound slayer ignored the looks from the other passengers and rolled herself forward. Rift padded along beside her, still a little indignant from his time at the security checkpoint. He behaved like a perfect gentleman, but being searched by security had still been as stressful for him as it had for his owner.

"Did you know that this airport had the first air traffic control tower?" Faith husked as she strolled up behind Elspeth, smirking down at her.

"Is it still in operation?" Elspeth snarked back.

"This is Cleveland," Faith just shrugged, "ya' never know."

"Wonderful," Elspeth sighed. Turning to stare up at Faith, she asked, "What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought you were a field agent?"

"Hmmm?" Faith's dark eyes were constantly wandering over the crowd, searching for danger. Her fingers gripped the handle of the 'Scythe', tightening and releasing on the hilt. That thing had been a revelation. Elspeth had never wanted to hold something so much in her life and she still had no idea how Faith had gotten it past airport security.

"Xander's going to Africa soon," Faith finally told her, "We've gotta' reshuffle a little bit. That means I get called in to teach. Oh goody..."

"Xander was one these Scooby people you were telling me about?" Elspeth pushed off again, feeling like she had to move. Truthfully, she felt a lot better with Faith beside her. The past week had been spent with her scrambling around trying to get everything organized so that she could leave for an extended period of time. She had to arrange for a sabbatical from work and get her classes covered. Luckily, it had been near the end of the semester. Still, she had to threaten, beg, and call in every favor she had to get it done. The snarling discussions between herself and Faith became a source of stability in an otherwise unstable world.

"Yeah," Faith's eyes flashed, then stuttered for a moment. "He's a good guy."

"Date him?" Elspeth asked, trying to sus out the source of the emotion. The curiosity niggling at her.

"Nah," Faith smirked and hitched her carry-on a little higher, "Just took his virginity."

Elspeth stared after the other slayer for a moment as she strode off, then snorted as she followed behind. _That's just like her._

…......

"Good afternoon," a tall, thin man holding a sign that said 'Joyce Summers' School for Girls' greeted them as they came out of the baggage area. "My name is Dr. Adyn Price. Mr. Wood(Charles?) sent me to pick you up."

"Oh goody," Faith smirked, "A junior tweed."

Elspeth snorted as one of the doctor's slim eyebrows raised at Faith's comments. He didn't really strike her as the type to get overwhelmed by sarcasm. Rather, he seemed to be the type that would be cool under fire and simply ignore such things he thought below his attention.

"I'm a medical doctor, Ms. Lehane," Dr. Price informed them both. "Not a 'tweed' as you refer to them."

"A tweed is a tweed," Faith just shrugged. "Doesn't matter how you pretty'em up."

"Guess they want to make sure I'm not faking," Elspeth smirked up at Faith. For a moment the two seemed to be united against a common enemy.

"Have you collected all of your belongings?" Dr. Price seemed immune even to their joint sarcasm.

"This is it, Price-is-Right," Faith told him. "My bike is coming in tomorrow by cargo plane so I'll pick it up then."

"Very good," Dr. Price turned on his heel and headed toward the exit. "If you would follow me?"

"Zero for four there, Rocky," Elspeth smirked up at Faith.

"I'll get to him eventually," Faith smiled back. Imitating a horrible Philadelphia accent she said, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, yo."

….......

"Got enough space here?" Elspeth snarked as they drove through the wrought iron gates and onto the grounds of the academy. The blacktop driveway was lined with fat green hedges for a bit, just enough to keep out prying eyes, and then suddenly the lawn opened up into empty space. There was no where to hide from the security cameras that had been placed strategically around the campus.

The academy itself was a large brick building, built in the European manor style. _The thing's got wings,columns and everything_. There was no way to tell how big the place actually was. Faith mentioned a pool and a workout area. Elspeth knew that all of the students lived in a dormitory, as well. The teachers, or watchers as they were called here, were offered the chance to live on campus or off, though apparently only a few chose to off campus life.

"Here we are," Faith's voice interrupted Elspeth's musing. "Home sweet home...at least for now."

They dealt with the incidentals, unfolding Elspeth's chair and removing the luggage from the car. Rift immediately scooped up Elspeth's carry-on is his mouth and sat next to her chair while Faith and Dr. Price organized the bags. Faith snorted at Dr. Price's attempt to claim the largest of Elspeth's bags and added it to her already burdened load. She didn't look a bit strained. A spear of jealousy stabbed through Elspeth's heart and she turned her head away from the sight.

_Stop that_, she chided herself, _she doesn't mean to hurt you._ But it was still painful. It was one more thing she would never be able to do. One more reminder that although she might have been chosen, she would never be like the others. _Just one more group that you don't belong to, Harsgrove. Nothing new there. Shake it off and move on. _

"The building was a Catholic school before the Council took it over," Dr. Price explained as Elspeth tried to banish her gloom and followed the rest of them up the ramp and into the building. "Xander made sure everything was up to code, of course. Including the handicap facilities."

"Oh goody," Elspeth imitated Faith.

Looking around the entranceway she studied her new home. It was a homey sort of place, a lot more so than she'd thought it would be. The honey-toned wood that made up the floors glowed softly in the fading daylight. Oil paintings and framed photographs were interspersed on the walls and plenty of green potted plants were located around the room. There were also two young girls trying their best to kill each other with mops and a large puddle on the floor.

"It's _your_ turn to do the dishes, Marianne!" screamed the redhead. She slammed the other girl's mop up and then flipped it casually through the air to try and attack her from behind.

"No, _I _did them last time," the blond defended herself both verbally and physically, raising her make-shift staff to block the incoming blow. "It's _your_ turn tonight!"

"Ladies!" Dr. Price spoke sharply. The two froze in mid-strike and turned to face them, their eyes going wide as they took in their audience.

"Sorry, Dr. Price," they practically chorused. "It's _her_ fault!"

"I'm not really interested in whose fault it is," Dr. Price told them. "I'm interested in who's going to clean up the mess that you two have made."

"Oh," the red-head looked around and then gulped, "Oops. Sorry, Dr. Price. We'll clean it up."

"See that you do," he said. "And Angela, it is your turn to do dishes tonight."

"Crap," the red-head, Angela swore and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Go about your business," Dr. Price just sighed and Angela threw him a look of gratitude before she and her friend threw themselves into the task of cleaning up the water they had spilled.

"Oh yeah," Faith snarled, "This is gonna be so much fun."

_I know exactly how you feel._ Elspeth sighed and decided she would just look at the whole thing like a bad dream.

….....

"So, I guess you really do want to know if I'm faking," Elspeth joked as she eyed Dr. Price from her chosen site on the opposite side of his office.

"No," Dr. Price shook his head, "I'm quite sure you're not faking. A pre-entry physical is required for all students at the Academy. The circumstances are just different here."

"Yeah," she shrugged and looked down at her feet that just wouldn't move, no matter how much she told them to. "Just a little different."

"Well," Dr. Price brought them back on track. "Perhaps I should tell you a bit about myself. You might feel more comfortable talking about your situation then. I am technically a neurosurgeon, so while my specialty is not physical disabilities, I have worked with them before."

"How'd you end up here?" Elspeth was curious about how a man with that much training could end up taking care of a bunch of kids in the middle of Cleveland.

"I had the distinct displeasure of encountering a vampire one night while coming home from work," the doctor explained. "A young lady came to my rescue and proceeded to turn him into dust, but not without suffering a rather large laceration to her stomach. I dragged her off to the hospital to save her. You can imagine my surprise when the wound was on its way to being healed when I took a look at it."

"Alas," he sighed, "My curiosity got the best of me and I began looking around into her background and kicking up all sorts of fuss. The next thing I know, a rather shaggy British man is offering me a job and loads of money if only I sign on the dotted line and promise to keep my mouth shut."

"So you did it?" Elspeth asked the obvious question.

"Part of the reason I became a doctor was to explore the wonders of the human body," for a moment Dr. Price's cold expression cracked and Elspeth could see the light of adventure and excitement behind them. "Can you imagine what could be more wondrous to study than a slayer? Why do you heal so fast? Is it magick, and if so, is there some type of medical application that could be applied to the population at large from such a thing?"

"Well it doesn't seem to be helping me any," Elspeth said. _Guy might be brilliant_, _but he's also a bit of a fanatic._

"That's what we're here to see," Dr. Price's expression returned to normal. "You're records are expected to come within the next few days, but why don't you just describe your injury to me to the best of your ability."

"Nothing unusual," Elspeth knew her stats by rote. "You're basic T1-T4 paraplegia. I was in a car accident when I was four."

"Complete?" Dr. Price asked.

"No, they classify me as incomplete," Elspeth explained. "I'm a B on the ASIA scale. I started out an A, but..."

"When was the transition from A to B noted?" Dr. Price was completely clinical now. It helped.

"A long time ago," was all Elspeth could say.

"Your age was a possible factor," he noted.

"Yeah," Elspeth swallowed, "I was lucky. At least that's what they kept telling me."

"Hmmm," Dr. Price noted some thing on his chart and then went back to his questions. "When did you note the increase to your strength?"

"I broke my yo-yo the day after Faith showed up," Elspeth answered. "I didn't think anything about it before, but after I thought back I guess that was the first sign."

"That would coincide with the timing that Willow had of your Calling," Dr. Price noted. "Are you having any problems controlling your strength now?"

"Not really." Elspeth looked down at her hands and flexed them. "Faith explained all that stuff about getting angry and being careful but to be honest, I haven't had any problems. I bent a nail for Faith and transfers have been a _hell_ of a lot easier, but nothing really out of the ordinary has happened.." _Of course, I've been pretty busy trying to deny all of this as much as possible..._

"We'll be sure to do some tests on that as soon as possible," Dr. Price made some more notes. "As to the flashes of anger, I've always wondered about them. While every slayer notes a tendency toward anger that they didn't have before, the complete loss of temper that they go through sometimes could be attributed to their youth."

"Hormones?" Elspeth was intrigued despite herself.

"In the teenagers, yes," Dr. Price slipped into lecture mode. "But I suspect it has to do with a level of maturity as well. The new batch of slayers, the seven though eleven year olds, also experience the same losses of temper. But they are children and temper tantrums are to be expected."

"So you think because I'm an adult that I just naturally control my 'slayer temper' like I do my normal one?" Elspeth murmured, her mind moving at a thousand miles per hour.

"It's quite possible," Dr. Price told her raising an eyebrow. "Iit could also simply be that you haven't yet encountered something to get truly angry over."

..............

Author's Note:

So here we are once more...only this time it's different. This time I actually have the valid excuse of work for being late. Not that you care, of course. I am just a mindless drone pumping out these chapters for your entertainment!!!!!.....*pant* *pant* *pant* ....Well, at least that's how I view my author's anyway....

anyway, sorry for the delay, but here you go...this story is actually starting to role now that I have all my little chess pieces back where I need them *yes, that's right...dance you little...anyway* I'm gonna go away now before i make an even bigger fool of myself than i think i already have. if that's possible....

Omake next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I swear, Officer, I just wanted to look at it! I was gonna' put it right back!

**Chapter 6**

"So what's the situation, Doc?" Xander Harris asked as he, Faith, and Robin Wood sat around the principal's office with Dr. Price.

"I can't really give a firm diagnosis until I receive Ms. Harsgrove's proper medical files," Dr. Price demurred.

"Just give us the rough estimate," Xander told him. "It's not like we're trying plan the invasion of the Death Star or anything. We can hold off on the details for later."

"Very well," Dr. Price's tone disapproving. "Ms. Harsgrove is paraplegic, just as she told us. She has limited feeling and basically no movement below the waist."

"Wait," Xander waved a hand to interrupt, "She's got feeling? I thought once you were out, you were...out."

"No, no," Dr. Price shook his head. "That's a common misconception. But the truth is spinal injuries are very complicated and diverse; no two are really the same. Patients often retain areas of feeling in the affected limbs, even if they have no more muscle control. It all really depends on which nerves were damaged during the incident."

"Huh," Xander drawled, "You learn something new every day..."

"It's fascinating," Robin Wood spoke up. "But forgive me, none of that really matters for our purposes. Feeling or no feeling, she can't fight. We can't send a slayer out into the world completely unable to fight. It'd be like sending a lamb with a bell into a den of wolves."

"So basically, she's stuck in the Academy," Xander frowned. "She's not ever going to be able to leave on her own."

There was a moment's silence as the four people in the room accepted the horror and finality of that statement.

"She won't ever accept that," Faith's rough voice broke the silence as she spoke out for the first time. "She won't stay here. She's got like...a whole life in California."

"It's not like we're going to make her a prisoner, Faith," Robin said. "She can go out; she'll just have to have a slayer with her. She can still teach here and do her research. For God's sake she'll have access to some of the finest libraries on Earth."

"She won't give a shit," Faith just shook her head.

"It's not like you've known her that long." Robin spat.

"Doesn't matter," Faith smirked at him. "Didn't take me long to figure out she's not a person that takes shit lying down. Maybe you should take the time to _actually_ meet her, Robin, before you go planning out her life for her." Faith cocked her head to the side and tapped her right index finger to her bottom lip. Her eyes narrowed as she drawled, "Oh wait, I forgot...you do that for everybody,or you try, at least."

"Okay, kiddies." Xander clapped his hands sharply, interrupting the two. "Let's move on to other, more important type things.

"Right," Faith huffed as she broke off her attack, settling back. _I really gotta stop letting his shit get to me._

Watching Wood sink back in his chair in defeat, Xander continued as if nothing happened, "So, Let's just say for now that we have a problem that we need to solve. Like the doc said, we're not going to be able to come up with any answers until we know all the facts. Let's wait until Elspeth's records come in and the doc can give her a thorough looking-over. Until then, just mull over solutions in the back of your head. Okay?"

Everyone murmured their agreement and rose to leave. Dr. Price left first, Faith and Wood staying behind as Xander gestured to them.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," the one-eyed man said baldly. "For like, an entirely different continent. That means that you two are gonna need to work together. So whatever issues that you guys are still working over had better be cleared up by then. I don't want to be getting a call on the Bat Phone saying I've got to come flying in to the rescue, 'kay?"

"Got it," Faith told him, looking him in the eye. _I'll get through this, even if it kills me...or maybe Wood._

…_._

_I'm gonna die,_ Elspeth thought to herself as she sat in class the next day. _It's not the demons or the vampires that are gonna get me. It's the sheer boredom!_

Elspeth glanced around her class, once more pleasantly surprised by the fact that it's wasn't made up of giggly pre-teens. There were a number of them, mostly slayers, but not all. She remembered Dr. Price's explanation for that.

….

_"To the public," Dr. Price explained as he gave Elspeth her schedule at the end of the appointment, "The academies in England, Rio de Janeiro, and here in Cleveland, are exclusive girls' schools. The truth is, more people go to school here than just slayers. Besides the influx of newly activated slayers after the battle against the First, the Council also lost the majority of their Watchers."_

_"Faith mentioned something about that," Elspeth nodded. "Something about that terrorist attack in London not really done by terrorists."_

_"Not the normal kind, no." Dr. Price flipped his pen absently in his hand. "You'll learn all about that later. But regardless of what happened, the result was that the Council was left with a lot of students and not a lot of teachers."_

_"One of the things that the Council has been doing over the past year and a half is to recruit not only slayers, but possible Watchers. They are all carefully screened, of course, and they've actually gotten a lot from the relatives of the new slayers. But they still need to know about the organization and how to do their job."_

_"So they're trying to fill out their ranks?" Elspeth asked._

_"Yes," Dr. Price nodded, "The eventual plan is to have separate classes for slayers, Watchers, and magickal practitioners, but that's not possible at the moment."_

_"Magickal practioners?" Elspeth raised an eyebrow._

_"Oh dear," Dr. Price had sighed._

…

_I wonder if I've got any witches in this class," _Elspeth broke out of her retrospection and looked around again. _Jesus, I can't believe I'm in a class wondering about witches. Not to mention the class subject._

"The History of Slayers 101: A Study from Ancient to Modern Times" was the title of her class. Elspeth had found herself actually looking forward to it despite herself. Knowledge of any kind was always of great interest to her. _But could this teacher be more _boring_?! It's just in the introduction, but geez!_ The wheelchair bound slayer stared at the man at the head of the class who was droning on and on in a monotone voice, her eyes glazing over.

"Now that you are aware of just what we will be covering over the next few weeks," he finally summed up his monologue, "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to one another. As you know, I am Professor Hoskins, and I'll be your teacher. Why don't we start at the front right of the class? Tell us your name, age, what you are here for, and perhaps something interesting about yourself."

"Okay, right," the young blonde girl in the top right seat stood up. "My name is Merry Fraiser, I'm eleven years old and I'm a slayer. Mr. Xander found me a couple weeks ago. I'm not really sure what's going on except now my big brother can't beat me up anymore and that Mr. Xander says that vampires aren't really like they are in _Twilight_, which I think kinda sucks, but my mom says..."

"Ahem, yes," Professor Hoskins coughed, interrupting the girl's ramble. She sent him a glare and then rolled her eyes, sitting back down. "That was fascinating, I'm sure. Let's move on, shall we."

Elspeth paid vague attention to the slayers as they introduced themselves. They made up about half the class, with six of them. All were between seven and eleven years old. On a scholarly level she found it fascinating that these girls even existed, Faith had explained the basics of the shift in age groups to her. On a personal level she found herself twisted in a knot of pity and disgust that they had to exist in the first place, put their young lives on the line for everyone else, and jealousy out of the fact that they were young, healthy and practically superhuman.

Besides the energetic Merry Fraiser, there were two more blondes, Katy Graham was eight and rather shy and Lorraine Wheeler was seven and the youngest of the group. Jennifer Wilkinson was eight, from Topeka, Kansas and a tall brunette. Amy Roberts was nine years old, African American, and in possession of so much energy she looked like she was going to bounce off of the walls at any time. Finally there was Samantha Webster. She had either Hispanic or Native American blood in her despite her distinctly WASP name. Her hair ran thick and black down her back and piercing black eyes stared out of high-cheekbones and dusky colored skin. When she told everyone in a defiant manner that she was from Oklahoma, Elspeth took an easy bet and guessed Native American.

Elspeth paid a bit more attention to the older people in the class when they introduced themselves, actually blinking out of her daze. Two were Medieval History doctorates, both out of Oxford in England. Unsurprising given the Council's roots in Great Britain and Elspeth made note of their names, Dr. Harvey Freebain and Dr. Abigail Costello. They had just graduated and so they hadn't yet published anything of true substance, but she would take a look at their doctoral theses and see if she liked them. The other doctor was of the medical variety. Dr. Wilson Barker seemed interesting.

"I'm 52 and most would say much too old to be here," the good doctor told them as he introduced himself to the class, "but my wife says I act like I'm 12 sometimes, so I thinks it's okay."

Even Elspeth had cracked a smile at his wry expression. A pediatrician by trade, she thought Dr. Barker would be a much bigger hit with the slayers than the clinical Dr. Price.

"I'm Detective David Russell," the last man stood up, looking around with somewhat bemused eyes. He still seemed a little like a deer in the headlights, as if he couldn't imagine how he'd come to be in this situation. "I work for the Cleveland Police Department, Homicide Division. Apparently I've been tapped to be some kind of liaison or something."

Finally, it was Elspeth's turn. Everyone turned to watch her. _I feel like I'm on display,_ she grumbled. _I hate this feeling. _Elspeth reached unconsciously for her yo-yo in the side pocket of her wheelchair and then stopped herself. _Just pretend you're in front of a class. Pretend they're focused on the information and not you._

"My name is Dr. Elspeth Harsgrove," Elspeth threw up the mask of the experienced Berkley professor that hundreds of students had seen and told her story. "I'm twenty-two. I have a doctorate in both European History and Comparative Politics from Princeton University. I've taken a sabbatical from Berkley, California to come out here." _Okay, here we go. Let the fun begin._ "I'm a slayer."

.......................

Author's Note:

Wooot! Okay, so this story is finally starting to roll somewhere. Thankfully, it's also getting easier to write, too. Everybody keep your fingers crossed;P

A note on Oklahoma...GO OU! GO SOONERS!.....Yes, Becky, that was for you;)

OMAKE:

Friend #1- What are you doing?

Author- I'm playing Bejeweled.

Friend #1- Don't you have tests and stuff...

Author- Yeah, yeah...later.

Friend #1- *two hours later* What are you doing?

Author- I'm playing Bejeweled.

Friend #1- What about the tests?

Author- Yeah, yeah..

Friend #1- What about the next chapter...

Author- *pause* Oh yeah...CRAP! I'll do that first!

*My priorities are so skewed. Aren't you all lucky?!*

For God's sake it's 4:20 am, that's the best you get right now, okay?! okay?!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, that horrible (read: wonderful) man owns Buffy and all the characters...except Elspeth, she's mine...much as she's a pain in the a#$ sometimes!!

**CHAPTER 7**

"Long time no see," Faith hailed Elspeth as they approached each other in the hallway. "How's things?"

"Oh, just great," the sarcasm piled on thick as Elspeth answered, rolling closer. "In the week since I've started class I've become the main attraction in the Academy. 'Come, look at the useless slayer!' It's like I'm in a freak show or something."

"It's that bad?" Faith cocked her head. The last week had been a whirlwind of settling into her own job as Head Slayer of the Academy. Faith had done some teaching on the fly right after the fall of Sunnydale. Back before the Academies had been established and they'd been running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to just give the girls the bare basics at least. But that had never been formal. Then she'd gotten tapped as the official troubleshooter and had been traveling ever since. _And if I'd had any idea how much paperwork had been involved I would have never let them drag me back! _ But that was not the problem now.

"The teacher had to shoo a couple of girls away from class the second day. They'd come to gawk," Elspeth's voice was dry but Faith could see the pain in her eyes.

"Kids can be nasty sometimes," the dark-haired slayer flipped her hair back and raised a hand in the air. "I know the feeling though. You're looking at freak number two right here."

"Yeah," Elspeth just shrugged. "But they look at you that way because they admire you."

_ "Nobody_ should admire me," Faith's eyes hardened suddenly and her face became remote. "I'm the last person they should look up to."

_ Wonder where that came from,_ Elspeth frowned and regarded the other slayer. _There's something there. The kids all think she's a god or something but the adults just shut up and change the subject when I bring her up._ It was a subject to investigate later on.

"Anyway," Faith waved her hand to get rid of the dark mood that had descended on her. Faith knew it was impossible, Elspeth would find out eventually what she'd done. It was inevitable. _Doesn't mean I want to hurry it along any though. She's actually the only adult around here that treats me normally, not like some kind of pariah_ _who's gonna massacre then in their sleep. _"So I was actually looking for you anyway. I've got something to talk to you about. You wanna catch some lunch first?"

"Sure." Elspeth nodded gratefully. Mealtimes were her least favorite times lately.

"I hope its taco day," Faith noted absently as they headed for the elevator. "One good thing about the Academies is the food. Had to be, ya' know? Can you imagine what a bunch of slayers could do to a place if you tried to feed them normal school food?"

Elspeth just shuddered.

…..

"Soooo, what am I doing here again?" Elspeth asked later on. They'd eaten lunch, it _had_ been taco day. One good thing Elspeth had noted about being a slayer is that she could eat anything she wanted now and not worry about weight. She'd eaten four tacos. Now they were in one of the smaller, private gyms. Faith had laid out a copious amount of weaponry on the floor. Rift was sniffing at a broadsword on the floor.

"Stop that," Faith told him. "You're gonna get dog slime all over the thing and then I'll have to clean it."

The big Shepard gave her a look and just snorted but went back to lay at his mistress's side. "I repeat," Elspeth asked, "What am I doing here?"

"Well," Faith scratched her head. "You're a slayer. That means that eventually, no matter how much we try to protect you here, you're gonna run across a vampire or a demon or something. I want to give you a way to protect yourself."

"I can't fight," Elspeth began getting a queasy feeling in her stomach. She felt this weird urge to pick up a weapon. She just _knew_ that she could use them. _ But you can't! You can't use anything like you are!_ Her body didn't want to listen though.

"I'm not expecting you to go all Joan of Arc on me," Faith shrugged. "I didn't really know what kind of weapons would be best, so I brought a little bit of everything. But you're gonna have to learn or you...will...die."

Elspeth swallowed at Faith's intensity. The slayer's eyes were hard and flat. She wasn't joking around like she usually did. _It's times like this that I remember what she really is_, Elspeth thought to herself. _She may be my friend...or whatever...but she's also been killing these things for a looong time._

"Maybe the crossbow," Elspeth swallowed down her nausea. It was time to get serious here. "I could hide it in my backpack or something."

"Okay," Faith nodded, pleased to be getting somewhere. "That could work but we'll have to make sure you can get to it fast. Vamps aren't usually very big with the warnings and stuff."

….

"I apologize for not meeting with you earlier, Ms. Harsgrove,"Wood, current Principal of the academy apologized to her as they met in his office later on that day.

Elspeth and Faith had spent the better part of that Saturday experimenting with weapons. It had, despite Elspeth's fears, actually turned out to be a little fun. Faith was a good teacher, despite her rough manner. She was demanding, but seemed to realize when Elspeth was starting to tire. She was also very knowledgeable about her profession. _That girl knows more places to hide a weapon..._ She also knew how to use them all, displaying a high degree of proficiency with each weapon. The two had eaten dinner together and then split up, Faith to lead a patrol and Elspeth to her current meeting with Principle Wood.

"It's not a problem, Principal Wood," Elspeth assured him. "I understand that the last few days have been busy for everyone around here, what with the changing of the guard and all."

"Thank you for your patience." He smiled. "I realize that the last few weeks have probably been very hectic for you, as well. I hope you've had a chance to settle in a bit."

"It's been a...unique experience." Elspeth shrugged, her hands itching to reach for her yo-yo, and studied the man who sat across the desk from her.

_He's fairly attractive, I guess. _Elspeth frowned at her train of thought. She knew from class that Wood had been involved in the final battle at Sunnydale and was actually the son of a former slayer. But what really intrigued her were the rumors of the romantic relationship between him and Faith. _That is the last thing that should be on your mind. _Elspeth castigated herself internally but still couldn't stop her curiosity over the type of man that the dark haired slayer would choose for a lover.

"If you have any problems I hope you'll come and see me. We have an open door policy here at...," Robin went on to explain his theory of teaching in the background.

_He's buff enough_, Elspeth had got a good look at the tall black man as he'd let her into the office. _Guess she goes for the tall, in charge types. _Elspeth could see the aura of power that surrounded the man, seemingly at ease in his position. And yet, when compared to the swiftly running waters that were Faith, he seemed like a shallow, placid pond. _He's tough,_ Elspeth decided, _but it's a brittle thing. _

"...and that's the kind of school I like to run, Ms. Harsgrove," Robin finished up his monologue and Elspeth nodded, making small noises of agreement. _I've had way too much practice in staff meetings_, the slayer decided. _At least he's not as bad as that history teacher._

"Now," Wood reached out and picked up a piece of paper on his desk. "As I'm sure you're aware, our slayer to Watcher ration is a little overloaded on the slayer side, but I have managed to find you a Watcher."

"Mmm," Elspeth nodded. _Please God, not the history teacher..._

"He's actually one of our more knowledgeable Watchers," Robin told her. "His family has been a part of the Council for a long time. Fortunately, he was away from England studying when the First began its reign of terror and so he survived. Here you are."

Rift left his station at Elspeth's side and padded over to the desk to take the file that Robin was holding his hand. He seemed a bit bemused by the helper dog, but didn't say anything. Elspeth took the file from Rift and scratched him on the head, causing the big shepherd to wag his tail slightly and then lay back down at her side.

_You've _got_ to be kidding me. _Elspeth could only stare in bemusement at the picture and name in the file that he had given her. _This has to be some kind of cosmic joke._ _Not him..not the bane of my existence...please..._

"His name is Kyle Edgewood," Wood seemed unaware of Elspeth's deep sigh of resignation at his words. "He should be in some time tomorrow. He was out recruiting a young shaman in Arizona, I believe. I'm sure you two will get a long just fine."

"Mr. Edgewood and I have met," Elspeth ignored Wood's raised eyebrow. "We were in a few classes together in Princeton." _Where he tried to humiliate me at every turn. _

The slayer sighed again. This whole mess just kept getting better and better. Hopefully, he had grown up a little in the last few years. Miracles could happen. _And pigs could start flying past my window at anytime_, she snorted. _What's next, they make another _Hellsing_ movie?!_

_........._

Author's Note:

So, yes, there will be a story starting along here...any second now...Jeez people! Anyone who's read Empowered knows I'm one for long layouts...I'm gettin' there! But really, the story should start rolling along here within the next two or so chapters. Also, a HAPPY TURKEY DAY! to everyone as well as the general HAPPY HOLIDAYS! for everybody as well. Gotta' love the holidays, even when your half-way across the world from your family!

OMAKE:

Faith: This is a crossbow. Careful, it's loaded.

Elspeth: Oooh! Nifty!

Faith: Yeah, until it goes off and hurts somebody.

Elspeth: Is this the trigger...?

Faith: Wait! There's no safety...!

*WHIZ!* *BANG!* *ZIP!*

.......silence.....

Elspeth: Maybe we should move on to something a little simpler to begin with...?

Faith:...I'm gonna go with, yeah.

Rift:....whimper *with his little doggy vest pinned to the floor*


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS. *sob* _But I really, really want toooooooo!_

**Chapter 8**

"How do you see this situation ending?" Faith glared at the woman on the other side of the table, her weapon poised. For the first time in her life she almost felt like a kid, a little giggly and carefree.

"I see me kicking your ass from here to next Sunday," Elspeth glared at her, her own weapon raised in challenge.

"Hah!" Faith sneered. "You don't have the stones for this sort of fight."

"You talk a lot," Elspeth returned the insult. "Bring it!"

There was a moment of silent tension in the room and then a flurry of activity as the two reacted to some unknown signal. Metal scraped and screeched as their weapons entangled over the field of battle. In the end though, only one could emerge a victor.

"That was good," Lucky purposefully licked a bit icing off her fork from the last bite of cake that had been their point of contention, smirking a bit.

"I didn't want it anyway," Faith waved her gloating off.

"Bullshit," Elspeth told her. "You'd never let me win anything."

"Whatever," Faith shrugged.

"No." Elspeth faced her seriously. "I appreciate that actually. To many times people just give way or make some excuse to let me win. Like I'm some kid or something. I'm crippled, not stupid. But you don't do that."

"Where I'm from you didn't let anyone beat you at anything," Faith shifted uncomfortably. She couldn't understand it, but she gave into the need to share some of her past with this woman. "If you did, you might not eat later."

"Well," Elspeth considered that, "Thank you."

"No worries," the dark-haired slayer leaned back in her chair, "I'll be happy to kick your ass anytime."

_You can...no, no, no, _Elspeth shoved the rather lust filled thought down and tried not to look too closely at her companion. The two had actually been getting together fairly well lately. Along with the weapons training, she and Faith had somehow begun having meals together. It was never something they planned, they just each happened to end up in the same place at the same time. They never usually talked about anything earth-shattering, just chatted about their day. Elspeth shared her woes about history class, Faith complained about paperwork. But somehow it had become a vital part of their days.

"So I hear your Watcher is supposed to come in today," Faith mentioned casually. To tell the truth she'd found herself oddly hurt when she'd heard the rumor through the grapevine. For some reason she felt Elspeth should have told her herself.

"Yeah." Faith narrowed her eyes at the short reply the other woman gave. Things weren't all happy in Slayerland.

"Something hinky?" Faith asked, her dark eyes studying Elspeth. She took in the stillness and the small wince at the corner of Elspeth's green eyes. _She has beautiful eyes. _Faith blinked and shook off the odd thought; she had other things to worry about right now.

"It's…I've met my Watcher before," Elspeth admitted. _They'd find out eventually anyway, _she told herself. _You already admitted to knowing him. _

"Do tell," Faith leaned forward, crossing her arms on the metal table and laying her head on them. Trying to seem nonthreatening but only reminding Elspeth of a big cat before it pounced, lazy but alert at the same time.

"Mr. Edgewood and I attended Princeton together." Elspeth reached unconsciously for her yo-yo and began flipping it in and out, the repetitive action soothing her nerves. A psychiatrist her school had forced her to see as a child had told her that the yo-yo was her way of pacing. Elspeth had thought he was mostly an idiot, but that he might have been right about that one thing.

"I assume you guys have a file on me or something?" Elspeth threw a 'sleeper', allowing the yo-yo to spin at the end of her string a bit before yanking it back to her hand.

"Yeah," Faith admitted, shrugging. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything.

"So you know I skipped a few grades?" Elspeth finally brought herself to look directly at Faith, only to find the other woman was watching her carefully through slitted eyes.

"If you call graduating with two doctorates from one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. at the age of seventeen 'skipping a few grades'?" Faith gave a casual shrug. "Then sure. Don't worry; we're all aware of the mightiness of your brain, Einstein."

"Right," Elspeth coughed, blushing a little despite herself. Somehow Faith had taken what was usually an uncomfortable situation and turned it almost funny. "Sorry. It's just that I didn't exactly grow up normal. Being smart sounds great, but the reality is that it alienates you from a lot of people. I was a thirteen year old girl when I first went to Princeton. I'd been raised in homes most of my life, and there's the whole chair thing. I didn't exactly fit in."

"Not to mention your sparkling personality," Faith snorted, showing no pity.

"Pfft," Elspeth snorted, unable to hold back a grin. That comment was so Faith-like. "Yeah, if you think I'm bad now, you should have seen me as a teenager."

"I'm sure you were a gem." Faith grinned, sarcasm dripping from every word. "So basically you went in there and these people went all gooey-eyed, going 'Oh, look at the poor crippled girl, ain't she cute with her books and crap!' and then you turned around and blasted the hell out of them. Scared off most of them and pissed off some, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah." Elspeth blinked, it was scary how right she was. "How'd you...?"

"I didn't exactly have a normal childhood either." Faith shifted a little, closing her eyes all the way for a moment before opening them again. Memories tried to crowd forward. _Come here little girl..._long forgotten voices hissed..._if you just do what I say....no more pain..._Faith beat the voices back with a stick and continued. "I know a little about not fitting in."

"Anyway," Elspeth dropped her curiosity for now, knowing somehow that this wasn't the time or place to pursue it. _But I want to know more, more about her. _"It was during my last year there. Mr. Edgewood was actually a student in a class I was T. for. He was young for it, very smart. But he made some smart remark in class one day when I was subbing for the professor, about my age and my...physical deficiencies."

_Ass! _Faith felt her slayer side rise as anger rushed through her system. Elspeth was trying to play it cool but Faith could tell the comment, and probably others like it, had hurt her. _I don't like seeing her hurt...why is that? _She knew Elspeth was a strong person in her own right, but right now she had the overwhelming urge to beat this Mr. Edgewood into the blacktop.

"Of course, me being who I am," Elspeth gave a slightly cruel smile, "I then proceeded to lambaste him up one side and down the other about how he should focus on his own deficiencies, such as his last research paper, before he looked to others."

"I'm sure that involved examples," Faith supplied, feeling a little better.

"Oh yes, many," the two women grinned at each other. "With page numbers and citations as well."

"One should always be thorough," Faith agreed.

"Yeah, well," Elspeth shrugged and then gave a deep sigh. "For my pains, Mr. Edgewood and I then became...I suppose he might have considered us rivals or something. I just considered him a nuisance. He would needle me in class, I would slap back at him. Finally, I finished my doctorates and just left Princeton. I got the job down in Berkeley. I fit in down there better. Not to mention the weather is great. I was doing okay."

"At least until I knocked on your door." Faith's smile was a little brittle.

"Don't be an idiot," Elspeth told her. "I would have probably been vamp food if you hadn't shown up. Besides, it hasn't been all bad. There have been some good things that came from all this."

_God Harsgrove, _she castigated herself as she turned away to study the fascinating tabletop, _could you _be_ more obvious? Why not just get yourself a neon sign that says 'Crush Here!' and get done with it?_

"Hey, Einstein?" Faith's voice snapped her out of her trance.

"What?" Elspeth looked up in horror, almost expecting to see pity in the other slayer's eyes.

"I think that's your guy," Faith hooked her head to the right in a subtle motion. "I don't recognize him and he's been staring at you for the past five minutes. That and he looks like he has a giant stick up his ass."

Elspeth glanced out of the corner of her eye toward where Faith had gestured and then sighed. "Yeah, that's him. Doesn't look like he's changed much."

"I think they used to breed 'em that way in the old Council." Faith sat back up and stretched a bit, noticing the way the man's eyes shifted from Elspeth to her at the motion. She chuckled nastily, then raised a brow as she caught Elspeth glancing away from her bare mid-drift. _Should I ignore that or...yeah, it's better that way._ "Don't panic yet, they can grow up sometimes. Giles used to be like that and so did Wesley."

"Who's Wesley?" Elspeth asked curiously.

"He's..," _I could kill you easily..._Faith jerked back to herself, shuttering off memories. _I got way too relaxed there for a second. She does that to me. _"He's nobody now. He was a Watcher, joined up with Angel and his crew down in L.A. As far as we know, they're all dead now."

"Ah," Elspeth filed away the touchy subject for future reference. Bit by bit she was gathering pieces of the puzzle that was Faith. The only problem was that each piece she gathered led to a quest for more pieces. Each answer she got just led to more mysteries. "I'd better go greet him, I suppose."

"Probably." Faith stood up, grabbing the trays. "I'll take care of these for you this once. But seriously, if he gives you too much shit just tell me. I can talk to Robin about getting you switched to another Watcher."

"Thank you," Elspeth said, . "Hopefully that won't be necessary."

Faith watched her roll off through the cafeteria area, Rift padding obediently by her side. She had a bed feeling about this. _That Kyle guy looks like a prick. Maybe I'll hang around and just casually listen in._

…

"Good afternoon, Mr. Edgewood," Elspeth kept her voice friendly through strict self-control as she rolled up to her new Watcher.

"Ms. Harsgrove," her new Watcher greeted her. She ground her teeth as he looked down at her with that cold, almost smug expression he had. It was like she had been measured and found wanting. "I must say, it was a surprise to hear your name when Mr. Wood called yesterday. When he mentioned you, I assumed you were coming in for Watcher training. But here you are, a slayer."

He could be called a handsome man by some, she mused. Dark brown hair falling softly on a chiseled face. A strong chin, a good physique. He dressed well, the khaki trousers going well with the knit shirt. A little preppy, but nothing too bad. Until she looked into his eyes, hard brown pebbles only when he looked at her, and a small smirk on the corner of his mouth.

"It was a bit of a shock for me, as well." Elspeth began her usual process of shutting down, throwing up walls to avoid letting them see the hurt. She had become an expert at staring right into their eyes and grinning. The bits of happiness she had been feeling at lunch dried up and drifted away. It was back to business as usual, hard as stone. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion in a quieter place."

…

Dr. Adyn Price jotted down a note on the chart in front of him. Shoving his blond hair behind is ear as he leaned down to write. He looked up from the chart when a knock sounded on his door.

"Enter," he quickly wrote the final note and then glanced up. Elspeth and Rift came through the door to his office. He glanced down at his watch, a little startled. "It's that time already, hmm?"

"Yeah," Elspeth answered, gripping her wheel rims and cocking her head at him. "Forget about me?"

"Just lost track of the time," he tapped the folder on his desk. "Your charts arrived."

"Fascinating read, I'm sure," she deadpanned.

"Everybody's got their thing." Adyn shrugged and hooked his lab coat off the back of his chair, standing. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," the slayer said blandly. She turned and headed back out into the clinic. "What are we doing exactly?

"Well, now that I've got a baseline for what you used to be able to do, I want to do some comparisons. We'll do some strength and reflex tests," the doctor answered, following behind her.

Elspeth let him chatter on, flexing her fingers on her wheels. _Just get used to it, Harsgrove. This is your life now._

_...._

Author's Note:

Hey folks. I want to apologize for the serious delay. I was suffering from some serious writer's block:( I want to thank my editor, Whedonist, for sticking by and kicking my a&* all the way through till now. But hopefully I've broken through this and we'll be rolling on.

Thanks,

wd


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_ This sucks, _Mary Jeffries sighed as she lay on her bed at home. She'd finally gotten some time off from the Academy to come visit her parents and they had to go to some stupid benefit party. It wasn't that Mary wasn't sympathetic to the whales or whatever it was they were saving this time, but still. _I suppose I'm luckier than some of the other girls 'cause my family lives here in Brook Heights but jeez...it still sucks. _Mary was Chosen at the age of fifteen, right in the middle of her swim match. She'd felt this huge surge of strength and gone on to win, though she'd always thought she'd have won anyway.

Becoming a slayer had been strange for her. She'd had such a normal life. One minute she'd been hanging with her friends and contemplating asking Saul Bryers out and the next she had this overwhelming urge to go out and run around in graveyards at night. Then the Council people had shown up. Luckily, her parents hadn't panicked too much and now the Council had the school right here in Cleveland.

_That year in England was cool, _Mary decided as she shoved her head into her pillow, _but their food was weird, I mean, who eats _beans_ on toast? _Huffing, she sat up. She pawed through the magazines on her bed, pausing once to imagine herself in the blue dress that Brittany Spears was wearing. Giggling at her fantasy, she finally threw the magazines into the air. They fluttered down about her room like birds, pages ruffling.

She was filled with way too much energy right now. She knew what it was, the slayer side of her urging her to go out and kill something. A year ago she might have given in, but now she had enough training to know not to. _Maybe I'll call Kayla and see if I can join the patrol tonight. _

Smiling at the thought, Mary headed out the door and down the hall. She had a little more enthusiasm now as she bounced down the stairs. _Yum, _she reached into the fridge, the cold air making her shiver a bit. _Cold chicken. _Bare feet did a little dance, but she was careful not to drop anything on the ground. Her mother was fanatical about her wood floors. Mary had been practicing her juggling and accidentally dropped a knife one time and her mother had a conniption. _I swear, she was like Martha Stewart on crack with her wood grains and sanding. It was scary._

"Mary!" Mary jumped as her mother's voice reached her ears. Speak of the devil.

"Mom?" The slayer turned toward the front door. The voice sounded weak and in pain. She called louder, "Mom?"

"Mary, baby," her mother's voice called out.

The slayer cocked her head to the side, unable to figure out where it was coming from. The house's layout had an open kitchen with only a breakfast bar separating the two areas. Moving around the bar, she set her food down and inched towards the front door. _The house is completely locked and alarmed, I'd have heard if somebody came in. __Outside maybe? _

"Mom needs your help...something's happened…your father," her mother's voice rasped.

"Dad!" Mary nearly shouted. Bolting for the front, she snatched a hidden stake from behind a couch cushion.

She paused at the heavy wooden barrier. Her training finally taking hold. Mary's heart drummed in her chest, a heavy rhythm beating a million miles a minute. Taking a deep breath, she forced it to slow down.

Finally, calm enough to function, she grabbed the door knob and pulled it open. Not stepping behind the threshold, she squinted into the night.

_This could be a trap._

"Mom!" she called out again.

Darkness cloaked everything except the front porch and a small portion of the walkway. Neither her mother nor father was in sight.

Her ears pricked at the lack of noise as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

_It's quiet. Where are the insects? _ "Where are you guys?" she hissed.

"Mary," the voice was closer this time, still weak. Just beyond the porch. "I'm over here, come help please!"

"No," Mary quivered as she gave the negative reply.

The stake in her hand shook as the blood rushed through her ears. Everything inside of her wanted to charge forward. She wanted to save her parents. She knew she couldn't.

"I want to see you first. I need to make sure it's really you and not some...some vampire." Her voice sounded strange in her ears.

"Foolish girl," her mother's voice cracked and wavered, changing. "Do you think the haven of your threshold will stop me!"

Mary had time to get her stake up as the form flowed over the porch and at her. A patch of darkness moved with inhuman speed. She readied her weapon for attack, but was unprepared for the white dust that shot forward. It choked as she drew the dust into her lungs. Coughing violently, she was flung back as the darkness hit her. Her head slammed backward, smacking the floor. A strange sort of grayness began to drift over her vision. Mary struggled, trying to do something, anything to move or fight back, but her body didn't respond to her commands.

Mary's head rolled to the right, her vision tracking as her muscles went limp. The darkness rose up off of her, its weight disappearing. _What is that thing? _She wondered in an idle sort of way as she lost sight of it. Shock settling in. _I've never seen anything like it in training._

The thoughts were lost as she heard a rustling followed by slight sting in her left arm. Dark laughter and muttering filtered into her ears as clawed misshapen hands reached for her hand. It pried the stake she had managed to keep a grip on out of her slowly relaxing fingers.

"No more of that for you," the dark voice chuckled. "Mine, all mine now."

A bizarre sort of lethargy filled Mary Jeffries, making her conscious float away. Her last thought was of her mother being devastated about her wood floors. She was lucky she couldn't feel the kiss of the blade making shallow cuts on her forearms, calves, and chest. She was luckier still because she blacked out completely before her killer began pulling off her skin.

...

Faith sat at in the dingy bar on the west side of Cleveland, nursing a beer. It was a little early for it, the sun having not quite set and sending a watery orange light through the one dirty window. You wouldn't know the time by the patrons though, dedicated drinkers all. Three grizzled old men on the far side of the bar drank whiskey and talked of the good old days. A few bikers sat at a table in the corner, laughing and knocking back shots. The only other woman in the place sat with them. She looked to Faith like she'd been rode hard and put away wet, her face caked with makeup and a dead smile on her face. The bartender was a large man, beefy with the beginnings of a gut. He was a lecherous ass, but he also knew how to keep his mouth shut. Which was why Faith was using the place.

"Whiskey, neat," a tall, shaggy haired man sat down next to Faith and ordered a drink. "The sun looks like it's setting."

"The dark hides scary things," Faith returned the codeword, feeling a bit like she was in one of Andrew's spy movies.

"Russell," the detective gave his name.

"Faith," the slayer slouched back a little, studying her contact.

The Cleveland school was new, but the Council had known right away that there was no way they'd be able to act like they had in Sunnydale. One slayer was easy to hide, especially when the police force had been chosen and trained by the mayor to ignore the crazy things going on in the city. Cleveland and the rest of the cities the Academies were in weren't like that and there were a lot more slayers now. So they'd had to make contacts, both high up and on the streets. Detective David Russell was one of those.

"Look," Russell kept his head down and his eyes hard. "I wanna make one thing clear before we start this. I know that you guys have approval from the senator and all, but this is still my case."

"Russell, is it?" Faith eyed him, the guy seemed relaxed and in charge, but she could tell he was a little twitchy. _Course I'm a little twitchy, too. All those years avoiding cops and now I'm working with them, who'da thunk? _"Pay attention, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once. Your case, my case, I really don't give a shit. When we're working together, if the doer turns out to be human, he's all yours. Lead away. You can get the collar or the leash or whatever the hell you call it. But if he's not human, you will sit back, shut up, and stay out of my way."

Russell's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to protest.

"Shut up." Faith spoke as if she were ordering lunch. "I'm not gonna have a pissing contest with you. I'd win. You look like a nice guy and you're probably a good cop. You wouldn't have been chosen if you weren't. I really don't want to have to break you."

Russell glared at her for a moment, which Faith didn't even bother to return and then snorted, relaxing back on his stool and sipping his whiskey.

"Shit lady," he smiled happily, "You're one scary chick."

"Thank you." Faith grinned back. He had a sense of humor, maybe they could get along after all. But they could make with the friends later, now it was time to get down to business. "You caught one of mine this morning, Mary Jeffries."

"She was a...?" Russell whistled and rubbed his chin. He hadn't been able to shave in two days, he was getting a little bristly. His mind started working a mile a minute, processing facts. "That would make a little more sense then."

"Why?" All the Academy had gotten was a blare on the police radio; even the parents had been silent.

"The scene was nasty," Russell's eyes were hard now, cop's eyes. "Who...or whatever it was knocked the girl out then it skinned her alive."

"How do you know she was knocked out?" Faith herself had dropped back into slayer mode. Right now was business, later she could rage against the thing that had killed one of hers.

"There were no signs of a struggle beside the initial one," the detective reported the facts. "She didn't have any ligature marks either; she still had skin on her hands and part of her wrists to tell. And now, knowing she was a slayer, it convinces me even more that she was out. I've seen the girls at the Academy spar sometimes."

"Yeah," Faith agreed, "If she'd have been awake, she'd have fought. Even chained down. But she _was _alive?"

"The coroner on the scene so," Russell nodded. "He wanted to get her back to the shop to confirm it though."

"Walk me through it," Faith instructed. If she couldn't get it first hand, then this would have to do.

"From what we saw it was quick, by surprise." Russell explained. "You're girl goes to the door, though there was nothing to suggest why, and bam! He's on her. Gets her onto her back somehow with very little fuss, knocks her out, though we found no trauma to her head that would account for that so I'm gonna go with drugs. Then he closes the door and skins her. He could take his time too. The coroner put her T.O.D. at around ten thirty, says the shock and blood loss probably took her out. The parents didn't find her 'till around two-thirty."

"Did you find any physical evidence around her?" Faith asked. "Herbs, crystals, or anything?"

"Just some dust," Russell shrugged. "The tech guys took it. Said they'd have it back to me as soon as they could. 'Course, with what she was...could it have been a vampire?"

"Possibly," Faith nodded, "There's three things that bother me though. One, you have to invite vamps inside. We drill these girls on not inviting anyone in, so he'd have had to be pretty damn convincing or involved with magicks somehow. Two, say he gets in. There'd still have been a big fight once he showed his nasty little face."

"Unless he drugged her right away," Russell played devil's advocate.

"Or again with the magick," Faith agreed. "But there's one last little problem. There's a big fight and Mary dusts our guy...so who skins her? Cause the pile of dust sure didn't do it."

"Two perps?" Russell bounced the idea back.

"Again, possible," Faith said. "But it's also possible that the dust ain't vamp dust. Could have been part of some kind of spell. How long till your lab people get back to you?"

"I'll put a little pressure on them," Russell told her. "I'm going to have to come by and interview you guys tomorrow."

"Jack be with you?" Faith mentioned his partner.

"Yeah," Russell looked at her in surprise. "How'd you know about him?"

"He's your partner, Detective. He hasn't been briefed on us." Faith slid off the bar stool and stood up, leering a bit. Looking him up and down she said, "I make it a habit to know the people I _work_ with."

"Oh," Russell sat up a little straighter. Slayer or not, the woman was hot. "And will we be working together a lot."

Faith couldn't resist, leaning in close to place a finger on his chest. Her face drifted closer to his, their body heat mingling. She could hear Russell's breathing accelerate, his heart start to pump harder. She breathed in his scent, a woodsy scent of pine and gun oil. _He is a tasty dish, _she thought to herself, _but..._Green eyes flashed in her mind and the slayer pushed herself off.

"Only in your dreams, detective," Faith teased him mercilessly. Tossing back the rest of her beer, she turned toward the door, waving over her shoulder. "Give us a call on the time; we'll have everything nice and neat for your partner."

"I still think we should bring him in on this," David yelled as she left.

She didn't answer, the door swinging closed behind her. David Russell watched the door for a second and then took a deep breath. Then his hand reached out and he slammed the rest of his whiskey in one shot. He shook his head at the burn and turned to the bartender.

"Here," the guy said, setting down another shot. "She's worth a free shot."

"From your lips to God's ears," Russell nodded agreement and picked up the glass.

….

"Here we are again," Dr. Adyn strolled around the edge of the weight machine and grinned at Elspeth as she came in the door.

"Yep," the slayer smiled at him, zooming over.

"We're gonna do the same thing that we did last time," he started setting the weight levels on the machine. "First the..."

"I know, I know," Elspeth shook her head and grinned at him. The doc was an okay guy. "First we do the blood work and the reflex stuff and then we get to the fun part."

"You seem to be feeling better than normal today," Adyn smiled back. "Something in particular happen?"

"I don't know," Elspeth shook her head and smiled some more. "I just seem to be feeling good today is all."

…..(two days later)

_ Whack!_ The broom handle took Angela on the back of the head.

"What the hell?" she yelled as the blow caused her to lurch forward. She clutched a hand to the throbbing injury.

"You should always be prepared!" Marianne stuck her tongue out at her fellow slayer and smirked.

"Prepared?" Angela yelled at the other girl. "I'm gonna prepare you! Come here!"

"Oh crap," Marianne grinned as she got the desired result and bolted down the hall at top speed crying, "Look out!"

…

"I'm telling you," Elspeth shook a finger at Dr. Abigail Costello, one of her fellow history students, "The man reminds me of a tree stump. He makes that class so boring!"

"I agree," Abby replied. "I think I've had statistics lectures that were more fascinating. And it's not like the material is boring. I mean, we're talking about real live monsters and superheroes here! It's like Tolkien coming to life!"

"Right?" Elspeth grinned up at her.

She was finally settling in a bit here at the Academy. Both doctors Freebain and Costello from her class were good people. They and most of the other Watchers here were extremely intelligent. It wasn't too different an atmosphere from some of the universities that she'd been at. She'd even managed to become passingly friendly with some of the older slayers that were based here. _Not to mention that I get to spend every day with an extremely attractive and interesting woman. _Faith had taken over Elspeth's weapons training personally. By now she could even fire a crossbow without endangering herself or the occasional passersby. _There's not a chance in Hell that a girl like her would fall for me, but it's nice to pretend sometimes. _

"So I finally went out and bought a bright pink elephant," Abby stopped and looked down in anticipation.

"Uh-huh," was all Elspeth said as she kept rolling forward, not noticing that her companion had paused.

"You aren't even paying...hey!" Abby yelled as a thundering came from above.

Marianne, one of the younger slayers that always managed to find trouble, latched onto the upstairs railing and came sliding down the staircase. She was yelling excitedly, looking behind her as Angela, the other part of the trouble-making duo chased after here. Marianne had only a moment to see the situation. Marianne was careening down the banister not looking where she was going and Elspeth was rolling right into her path, lost in her own world.

"Elspeth! Watch out!"

Elspeth heard the warning yell and looked up to see Marianne sliding straight down at her. The girl's eyes were wide as she whipped her head around and saw where she was going. To give the girl credit, she did try to ditch off and avoid the crash. But Angela had finally caught up with her, sliding down the banister behind her, and latched on. Both girls flew off the end of the banister and into Elspeth.

There was a loud clatter as the wheelchair toppled on its side, spilling Elspeth onto the floor. Marianne landed completely on her, pressing her to the floor. Poor Angela landed half on them both and half on the chair, yelling as her shin caught on the wheel. Rift yelped in pain as his tail got caught underneath the edge of the chair. They were a pile of groaning humans and clattering machinery.

Yipping, the dog pulled his tail free and spun to check on his master, trying to nose past the people on top of her. Everyone else just stared in shock at the mess, stunned by what happened. Elspeth groaned a little, her arms were on top of her and she was on her back, pressed to the ground. She blinked a little and shifted her head down a little. She could see that her waist was half in and half out of the chair but her legs were trapped in the seat. The slayer could swear she felt pain coming from down there but knew it was just phantom sensation. Irrationally, that seemed to make her angrier.

Voices from above drew her attention. The two that had caused this whole mess were squabbling like five year old children above her. _Why won't they get off? _ She clenched her fingers as anger seemed to stream through her system, flooding every pore and hair, blanketing her. _I can't get up...I'm _trapped!

It had always been one of her reoccurring nightmares to fall and get stuck. She didn't like to admit it, but she relied too much on technology, on that much hated and loved chair. _They need to get off..._panic began to settle in, stirring and mixing with the anger. _They need to get off right now!_

"This is all your fault, Marianne!" Angela declared as she pushed herself up and tried to get a hold of her opponent even as she groaned in pain.

"Me?" Marianne tried to get up and fell back as the other girl pushed her, "It's you that..."

"GET OFF!" Both girls were flung up and way as Elspeth exploded upward, her eyes wild. She was panting like she'd just run ten miles. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Abby and the rest stumbled back in fright at the first actual show of slayer strength she'd seen Elspeth display. Sure, the other woman had introduced herself as a slayer, but she'd never acted like one before. Now Abby could see her fight to control her rage as she struggled on the floor, her legs dead and useless. Abby's heart squeezed a little as the person she'd come to respect so much, who always had such poise, had to pull herself backwards on the floor like a crab to free her legs from the overturned chair.

"I'm…I'm sorry," Marianne got up off the floor and tried to walk forward to help. "I didn't mean to! Here, let me..."

"No!" Elspeth glared at her hotly. "Just...leave me alone! All of you just go!"

Abby looked around to see that a crowd was starting to gather, drawn by the yelling. Their gazes were filled with curiosity and pity as they watched Elspeth struggle on the ground.

"What's going on?" Faith's voice cut through the whispering, slicing like a blade. People got out of the way quickly as the Head Slayer strode through, not stopping till she got through. "Shit Lucky Girl, what happened?"

Elspeth groaned internally, trying not to cringe as Faith rushed toward her. _Of course she comes around now. _Something inside her seemed to crack and break. _I'm flopping around on the ground like a fish. _The slayer pulled her dead legs together and flipped over on her stomach. Ignoring the burning stares of the people around her, she pushed herself up and army crawled toward her fallen chair. This was all just too much. _Stop staring at me!_ Rift continued nosing at her, trying to help.

"Jesus, wait!" Faith got close and flipped the chair up one-handed. The casual display of strength cut deep into Elspeth's psyche.

"Stop!" Elspeth slapped at the hand that Faith extended toward her without thinking. She missed the other slayer's wince at the blow, too focused on not seeing the pity that she was sure was in Faith's amber colored eyes. "Don't touch me!"

The crowd cringed back a little as Faith's eyes narrowed. The Head Slayer's reputation for violence still followed her after all this time. While everyone might not know the details of to the story, they knew enough for rumors of death and jail time to be floating around. Even if that weren't enough, any girl who had been in her combat class knew Faith didn't take backtalk well.

"You're being an idiot," Faith told Elspeth and reached forward again, leaning down and grabbing Elpeth's left arm.

"I said NO!" Elspeth's right hand shot forward in reaction and she hooked Faith right across the jaw.

Complete silence fell as Faith stumbled to the side, almost falling. The angle of Elspeth's punch had been awkward and her positioning hadn't allowed her to get in her full power, but it was still like having a sledgehammer catch you upside the head. Faith straightened up and fingered her jaw for a moment, working it back and forth, eyes narrowed. Elspeth just stared at her for a moment, mouth dropping in horror as she looked down at her fist in shock. Reality was beginning to set in, the adrenaline draining from her system. It was like a fog was clearing from her vision. _I...I…didn't mean to! _

"Well damn," Faith finally spoke, drawing Elspeth's gaze. The dark haired slayer was grinning fully, white teeth flashing. She fingered her jaw once more. "At least we know you're really a slayer now, temper tantrums and all."

"I'm sorry I hit you," Elspeth whispered softly, so Faith had to lean in to hear. "I...I just...I can't...don't pity me!"

"I don't pity anyone," Faith knelt down, looking Elspeth straight in the eye. The Head Slayer's eyes were hard and her voice was serious. "It's stupid. Either you do something to help or you move on. Pity never did jack shit for anyone."

"Then why..?" Elspeth trailed off as she looked back at her ruined legs. Luckily, they were in slacks today, but they still trailed behind her like prison chains, weighing her down.

"Einstein or not, you're still one of my slayers." Faith explained. "I don't leave my sisters on the ground. Now come on."

This time Elspeth let the other slayer turn her over and pick her up. There was a short feeling of almost weightlessness as Faith scooped her up effortlessly, holding Elspeth tight against her chest. Oddly, there was none of the scary feelings of being powerless that Elspeth had experienced every time she'd been picked up before. Perhaps it was the complete confidence in Faith or the mystical strength granted by her slayer powers, but Elspeth had the feeling that Faith could go on holding her for hours and not feel tired at all.

"I'm taking you to the clinic," Faith declared, bypassing the chair and heading for the elevator.

"No," Elspeth clutched at her shoulder. "Please, I just want to go to my room."

"Luc..," Faith started.

"Faith, please?" Elspeth begged.

Faith stopped and looked down at her for a moment. Her friend, and damn did it feel odd to admit that, actually looked like she might cry. _She's too much like me, _Faith thought, _she'd hate for anyone to see that. _ Giving a sharp nod, Faith yelled over her shoulder. "Marianne, you bring that chair up to Elspeth's room. Angela, you go get the doc and bring him up. Then the two of you go to my office and wait there. We're gonna have a little talk."

Marianne and Angela cringed as they went about their assignments. Talks with Faith were never fun. Faith walked over to the elevator and went up instead of down, holding Elspeth quietly. "I can give you that much, but the doc has to take a look at you."

"Thank you," Elspeth whispered, dropping her head onto Faith's shoulder.

"If you..," Faith started and then stopped, suddenly uncomfortable, "If you need something...I'm…you can ask, you know?"

"Can you check Rift's tail?" Elspeth found a smile coming to her face despite the situation. A confused Faith was rather cute. _This whole situation is so surreal. _It was like they were in a soap bubble, the silence was complete inside and the view was pretty. But she knew it was fragile and would be destroyed soon. "He got it caught under my chair."

"Yeah," Faith nodded, happy to have something solid to do. "I can do that."

"Thank you," Elspeth spoke, the elevator bell dinged and the moment was over.

….

_That can't be right, _Dr. Adyn Price flipped through the pages of the folder on his desk. Then he flipped through once more, then again. He sat back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd come across some crazy things during his time with the Council; cuts that started healing before his eyes, bruises that disappeared before they should, even broken limbs that defied medical knowledge. He'd watched these slayers defy modern medicine so many times it was crazy. But he never thought he'd come across something like this.

"Hey, doc!" Adyn almost jumped out of his chair as the voice yelled in his ear.

"Oh God!" He grabbed his chest as Angela's face popped into his view, spinning him around in his chair. "What do you want, Angela?"

The girl's face was a familiar one, having been involved in many a 'training accident'.

"I called your name, like, fifty times," Angela complained. "Anyway, Faith sent me to get you. Elspeth fell out of her chair."

"How'd that happen?" Adyn got up and walked out into the main part of the clinic, grabbing supplies. "Are they bringing her here? Is she badly injured?"

"Uhhh," Angela tried to delay. "It was sort of an accident. But don't worry, she's totally fine. No blood or anything. Faith took her up to her room and wants you to go check on her just in case."

"Accident?" Adyn paused and looked over at Angela as she tried and failed to look innocent. "Right. I'll be right up, let me grab a few things. I imagine you have some place to be?"

"Faith told me to wait in her office," Angela looked down, her normal bounce subdued.

"Then you'd better get there," Adyn resumed packing. Angela and Meredith were normally harmless pranksters, the joy of the Academy. But they'd been getting a little out of hand lately. A lecture from Faith might just do the trick.

….

The knock on the door interrupted a rather uncomfortable moment between Faith and Elspeth. The Head Slayer had carried Elspeth into the room without speaking. She'd laid her down on the bed on top of the covers, making sure she was comfortable. She'd paused for a second, examining Elspeth with a puzzled gaze that Elspeth hadn't been able to understand. Then she'd turned abruptly away and begun examining Rift's tail, still silent. That was the scene that Adyn Price walked in on a few moments later, both women struggling to believe that everything was still completely normal.

"So I here you had a bit of a tumble," Adyn had his own doctor's mask settled into place. His thoughts might be tangling themselves inside his head with his discovery, but nothing showed on his face. "Why don't I take a look?"

"I'll get out of the way," Faith looked quickly over at Elspeth and gestured at Rift. "Want me to take him for a walk?"

"Yes, please," Elspeth breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to try and stay. _These examinations are embarrassing enough without having the woman I'm lusting after around to see my pitiful body._ Elspeth let nothing show on her face, "Let him run around a bit."

"No problem," Faith gestured a Rift, "Come on, pup. I'll let you go chase some squirrels."

"Tell me what happened," Adyn got to work as soon as Faith left, pulling the stethoscope off of his neck.

As the doctor moved impersonal fingers over her Elspeth relayed the story to him. Her voice was clipped and factual, like she was delivering a report. "My legs got twisted up in the chair, but I don't think they were hurt. I'm actually feeling a little phantom pain down there, kinda feels good."

Elspeth chuckled humorlessly as Adyn shot her a look.

"Where's the worst of the pain?" he asked.

"Huh?" Elspeth glanced at him and smirked. "Come on, Doc, it's not real. My mind just thinks it _should_ hurt, so it does."

"Humor me," Adyn told her.

"Right leg, calf area," Elspeth shrugged.

Adyn rolled up the leg of the baggy pants and Elspeth gaped in shock as she saw a bright purple bruise forming on her withered calf.

"I..H..how?" The normally composed woman floundered.

"That's what I want to know," Adyn grabbed the chair at the side of the bed and pulled it over. "I need to talk to you about some things I found during your tests, Elspeth."

An hour later Dr. Adyn Price left Elspeth's room and calmly closed the door behind him. Elspeth sat on her bed and watched the bruise on her leg in fascination and shock. Her whole world had just exploded.

....

Author's Note:

First thing I'd like to do is thank Whedonist, me beta, for helping me beat this chapter into submission. Say thank you everyone, without her it wouldn't have been nearly as good as it was;)

Also, thanks to those people who are commenting or even just marking this story, I always smile when I get a notification. So thank you and I look forward to your future comments and even constructive criticisms!

OMAKE: (night time, it's raining)

Faith - Here

Marianne and Angela - *take shovels*

Marianne - What are these for?

Faith - To dig with.

Angela - W..what are we digging on a cold, dark, rainy night?

Faith - *glare* Think about it...But make the holes pretty big. *Walks away*

Angela - Oh..My..God..It's like that scene in that Jerry Thomas movie 'All The Little Animals" when that guy orders his stepson to dig his own grave!

Marianne - What the..? Where do you get this stuff from?

Angela - It had Christiane Bale in it! He's hot!

Marianne- ....okay, I can get that. But Faith wouldn't really make us...I mean I've heard stories...but..*looks at shovel*

Dr. Adyn - *watching from inside* What are you making them do?

Angela - The witchy types want some more trees so they can commune or something. I'm making them dig the holes.

Dr. Adyn - That's a punishment?

Faith - *chuckles darkly* I didn't tell them what exactly they were digging the holes for.

Dr. Adyn- *pause* Ohhh.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer:.....What? Are you waiting for something important here?.....Fine. Fine. *Cough* I don't own it. *Cough* Good enough!!

Rating Alert! This chapter is rated M for language and adult material (no, not _that_ kind!).

**Chapter 10**

Elspeth lay in bed later that evening, staring down at her legs. Faith had dropped Rift off earlier, both of them happier for the run they'd been on. Elspeth didn't know how she'd gotten through that without screaming at the top of her lungs, but she'd done it. The familiar nighttime routine of brushing her teeth, washing her face, putting on her pj's and getting into bed had gotten her through the next hour or so. But now she was here, everything done, and she had nothing left to distract herself with. _Somebody's gonna jump out yelling something about Candid Camera, I just know it....wait for it...wait..._

But nothing happened. She was still sitting here, alone but for Rift who was snoring on the floor. The world hadn't stopped spinning, nothing crashed through the window to tragically end her life like in a horror film and now she had to deal with this big, fat, really-fucking-scary issue. Elspeth had long ago given up on dreams and wishes, getting through reality was hard enough. But now here she was the main character in her own fantasy. Dr. Adyn had been very tentative in his diagnoses, not wanting to give her false hope, but even a slight change would please Elspeth.

_"The blood test was the key," Adyn said. His eyes were lit up almost fanatically. "You haven't had a blood test since you caught pneumonia six years ago. So when I checked, I wasn't really looking for anything. I get the same base line for all the girls, in case they run into some kind of magickal virus or something. But yours...I mean, woah! There were stem cells everywhere, it's amazing!"_

_ "Stem cells?" Elspeth cocked her head, "But that's impossible, I'm an adult."_

_ "That's a myth." Adyn interrupted. "Stem cells are found in both adults and fetuses. The difference is that most adult stem cells are lineage-restricted; they're only present in certain tissue types. Nerve tissue, like the damaged part of your spinal cord, is pretty much impossible to reproduce. That would take something called a pluripotent type of stem cell and it's only present in embryos."_

_ "Pluripotent?" Elspeth cocked her head. She honestly hadn't paid much attention to stem cell research. Granted, it sounded like some kind of miracle cure but Elspeth knew the realities of medical research. Even without all the politics and moral issues surrounding it, it would take years of research and testing to create a feasible cure for her type of injury. "What does that mean?"_

_ "Pluriponent cells can differentiate into nearly all cells. In other words, they can develop into each of the more than two-hundred cell types of the adult body when given sufficient and necessary stimulation for a specific cell type. Think of them like blanks that are just waiting for someone to come along and give them instructions. They're normally only present when the fetus is developing." Adyn paused," But they're in you...and there's only one reason for them to be there."_

_ Elspeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened them and looked straight at Adyn. "Please, don't tell anyone."_

_ "What...but...?" Adyn was flabbergasted. "That's all you have to say?"_

_ "I...I really don't know what to say right now," Elspeth admitted. "Give me a while to...to process all this...this _stuff_." _

_ Adyn stood there for a moment, the light in his eyes finally dimming a bit as he was confronted with reality. _She's not some damn research project, Adyn_;_ _he forced himself to slow down._ This is her life, give her time. _ "Okay," he nodded. "You're technically my patient and you're certainly not a minor. You can make your own decisions. But Elspeth, we're going to have to deal with this somehow. There are things that are going to need to be done."_

_ "Tomorrow," Elspeth agreed. _

It wasn't that she didn't believe Adyn. She'd seen the bruise. It'd been right there, right where she'd felt the pain coming from. Could _still_ feel it if she were honest with herself. _God, I wonder how many of those 'phantom pains' I dismissed were real pain. _When she thought of it she could almost weep. So many lost opportunities.

_ Now don't get ahead of yourself, _the cynical part of her spoke up. _Just because you can feel doesn't mean you might be able to one day..._

_ Shut up! _The hopeful, long-thought-dead piece of her called hope emerged. _Jesus, your surrounded by magick everyday here! You've heard the stories. Buffy came back from the _dead! _A little thing like walking should be a piece of cake!_

The internal argument between her rational and hopeful sides continued on well into the morning. She finally quit fidgeting and quieted down. This eventually led to her eyes blinking and closing for good. Even a champion arguer could only keep it up for so long.

….

Elspeth sat in the elevator, chewing on a fingernail. The little lights on the floor panel were all dark save the basement level one. _There's more underneath this damn school than there is above it. It's like the X-Men school on steroids. I wonder if they have a jet?. _The elevator finally chimed and the doors swept open. Elspeth blinked at them for a second and then pushed herself forward into the clinic. She ignored the main area and followed the hallway to Dr. Adyn's office. Rift's nails made a click, click, clicking sound on the cold tile floors. She rapped swiftly on the door as she came to it.

"Come in!" A voice called.

Rift grabbed the handle in his teeth and pulled down, opening the door for her. Elspeth rolled on in, taking a deep breath. Adyn looked over his desk at her, setting down the file that he was holding in his hand.

"I want you to help me," she blurted. _There, it's said and now I can't take it back._

"Okay," Adyn nodded. "How?"

"If...if this _thing_ that's going on with my body is real, I want to know." The words tumbled out of her mouth. "I want to know for sure that I'm going to...going to heal all the way. Walking...running, the whole shebang, before I tell anyone."

"Can I ask why?" Adyn asked, his shirt rustling as he crossed his arms.

"It'll be too much pressure," Elspeth shifted her gaze to the wall behind him. "If we tell everyone and then nothing happens, I'll feel like an idiot. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up."

_Including your own, _Adyn Price regarded the woman sitting in the wheelchair across the length of his desk. _You're a lot more fragile than you let on, Dr. Elspeth Harsgove. _

"Deal," Adyn slapped his hand down. "Like I said last night, you're an adult and as long as it's not going to endanger the Council, I'm not obliged to report it. I'll let you decide when to tell people. But this isn't going to be easy, Elspeth. Slayer healing can do a lot, more than I thought it could if this works, but it can't do everything."

"What do I need to do?" Elspeth let out the breath that she'd been unconsciously holding. _Good, _she started calming down, _a plan. I can do anything as long as I have a logical plan. _

"Okay," Adyn started laying it out for her. "The slayer healing can only do so much. We've never had anyone completely recover from you're type of paraplegia before, so we're gonna have to make some stuff up as we go. I've been doing some research on recovery for spinal injuries and it looks like if the slayer healing can get your nerves going there's going be two things we'll have to focus on."

"What?" Elspeth cocked her head to the side, brain kicking into gear.

"One," Adyn ticked his points off with his fingers. "Even if you're nerves are repaired, it doesn't mean you're brain is used to listening to them. You, yourself just pushed that bruise off as phantom pain. We're going to have to retrain your body to respond correctly. Most of that will be instinctual, thank God, but it's still going to take some time. Second, aside from physical therapy to maintain your body, you have not used the legs in your muscles since you were four years old."

"Almost twenty years," Elspeth whispered, her hand clenched on her skirt, digging her fingers into her thigh. Yelping, she looked down at her leg. _I felt that! _"I…I...!"

"Felt that, did ya?" Adyn stood up and walked over. "That's good; it means your mind is catching up. People have an amazing ability to affect their bodies with their minds, you know?"

"The placebo affect?" Elspeth cocked a brow, smirking.

"Don't take it for granted," Adyn said and leaned on his desk. "People's belief in the medicine causing them to feel better. Look at Pavlov and his conditioning experiments."

"I believe I am crippled, therefore I am?" Elspeth snorted. "I think it had more to do with the Mack truck snapping my spine."

"But then you were healed," Adyn countered. "You've been walking around, so to speak, practically completely healed, and you didn't even realize it because you'd conditioned yourself to think of yourself as paraplegic."

"I didn't really have a choice!" Elspeth rasped, whipping her head up to glare at him.

"I'm not blaming you," Adyn shook his head. "Even in daily life we condition ourselves to respond a certain way to situations. Why do you think you don't hit your boss when he yells at you, even though you really want to? Or go out and rob a bank when you need money, for that matter? Because society has conditioned us all to behave it certain ways so that we might live peacefully together. You just had to adapt a little differently. But now we have to recondition you and that might be harder than you think."

"If it means I'll be able to walk again," Elspeth looked straight at him, her green eyes cold, "Then I will do _anything!_"

….

Faith stalked her prey with a patience that would have been impossible for her in her younger days. The rooftops of the buildings nearby provided a handy walkway for those who were willing to use them. The demon stalking the area was a particularly nasty one that liked ambushes. They weren't sure exactly what it was, but it had stripped a couple of people right down to the bone. So far it had gotten two homeless guys and a woman walking home from the grocery store.

Georgia, one of her slayers-in-training, was walking below and doing a very good imitation of a party girl on her way home from a late night bash. She was staggering down the alley, fluffing her hair and generally acting like first class bait. Faith leaped easily from one roof to another, absently checking to make sure the rest of her team was with her and in their correct positions. _This teaching thing is becoming a habit, _she snorted to herself. _Can't help being a pack-mother. _

Faith had been feeling really antsy lately and had needed a release. The squad's regular teacher had been delighted when Faith had offered to take the group out, something about a date. Mary Jeffries murder investigation was at a standstill right now. She and the rest of the active slayers had spent the first week and a half breaking down doors and intimidating the hell out of the local demons in hopes that something would shake loose, but no luck. If it was a demon that had taken Mary out, nobody was talking about it.

Faith dropped to her stomach and peered over the edge of the roof she was on, the brick roughing her palms and a cable digging uncomfortably into her hip. In the alley down below, Georgia had stopped, laughing inanely as a guy tried to chat her up. _Damn, that girl is a damn good actress. If I didn't know she was one of the most straight-laced kids in the world I'd think she was a total skank. _She raised a brow as Georgia flicked a finger up the man's chest and whispered in his ear.

"Should we intervene?" Andy whispered into her mike.

"Nah," Faith pressed the button on her throat mike. "Wait to see what happens. Girl's got him wrapped around her finger."

A few more minutes of gentle flirting and Georgia sent the obviously drunk man on his way. Faith eased back up to her feet and followed along, the rest of the squad flowing along like wolves in a pack, each instinctively knowing her place. Faith's mind turned back to the case, her senses on autopilot. _We completely struck out on the demon end and Russell ain't doin' much better. _The detective had hit a brick wall with his side of the case, too. All they had was a mysterious powder and a toxicology report that _might_ bring them something. But it didn't really matter right now 'cause both were backlogged in the city lab! _If those assholes don't get to it within the next couple of days I'm just gonna break in there and bring everything to the witches. They'll tell me in five minutes. This following the rules crap is annoying._The whole thing was making Faith's head ache...and then there was Elspeth.

The past few days Elspeth had been missing their normal meals together, supposedly for further testing by Dr. Price. _What the hell takes this much time to test?_ Faith grumbled to herself. The slayer had found herself oddly at a loss without her normal talks with the touchy professor. Elspeth was the one person in the whole school, or practically anywhere for that matter, that Faith felt completely relaxed around. She'd found herself coming to depend on those talks, and now they'd practically disappeared.

_Had to happen sooner or later, I guess. _Faith sighed and shook her head, her hair flying violently around her._ It's not like I can hide my past from her forever. Somebody's gonna slip and mention it and then where will I be? It's not like she's gonna understand. Girl's smarter than Einstein, what the hell would she wanna hang out with a murderer for? Just admit it; it's better for her to be hanging out with Dr. Price than with you. At least he's as smart as her. _Faith was still arguing with herself when a shadow reached out and grabbed Georgia, pulling her in.

"Contact!" Faith yelled and stepped off the roof, dropping straight down. Her slayer-trainee was being quickly engulfed by mob of slimy, green, leach-like things. Faith reached out and grabbed the back of Georgia's belt. _No time for finesse, _Faith grunted and hauled back. Georgia came out screaming, dripping demon leeches. Clawing at her face, she flew backwards and hit the ground.

"Stella! Agnes!" Faith barked, backing quickly away as the leeches tried to come after her. "You two take care of Georgia. The rest of you, help me with these things."

The two assigned slayers immediately began ripping the leeches off of Georgia and squishing them. The others looked a little squeamish, but did as they were told. Faith slammed her own foot down on one leech that made it a little too close to her. There was a nasty squelching sound and she felt it pop beneath her boot. _I just bought these boots, dammit! _Still, there was something satisfying about squashing the little fuckers beneath her heel. She stomped her stress out as the rest of the girls whined and retched, a smirk on her face. _This is for those stupid little lab weenies who won't hurry the fuck up! This is for the son-of-a-bitch that killed one of my slayers! And this...this is for Lucky, who suddenly finds 'Oh-I'm-so-special-and-smart' Dr. Price more interesting than me! Fuck 'em all!_

Faith was breathing hard when she and the rest of the squad had finally taken care of all the leeches. She flipped her hair out of her face and spat on the pile of mush. Then her squad of trainees stood and watched in horror and fascination as their leader poured a flaskful of whiskey on the remains of the leeches and lit them on fire, a smile on her face the entire time.

…..

"Well, hello there," Elspeth smiled as the door to the clinic opened and she saw Wilson Barker, the pediatrician from her history class. Dr. Barker was a hit in their class, always cracking wry jokes and making the younger slayers giggle. A big man, broad-shouldered with a bit of a pot belly starting and what was left of his hair was stark white.

"Hello, Dr. Barker," Elspeth nodded. "How are you doing?"

"One of these days I'm gonna get you to call me Dr. B," he grinned at her. Both of them knew it would never happen, but they liked to tease each other about it.

"Sure, sure," Elspeth nodded, a grin on her face. Her whole body ached, including her head. The exercises that Adyn was putting her through hurt like hell. _But I'm just so damn happy that I _can_ actually hurt that I don't care!_ Apparently she was coming along even faster than Adyn thought she would. He'd said that they might be able to move on to Locomotor training soon.

"What are you doing down here?" Dr. Barker asked, looking her over.

"Physical therapy," Elspeth shrugged her eyes steady. _It is physical therapy after all, _she reasoned, _just not the kind he assumes._

"Well that's wonderful that you keep up with it," Dr. Barker encouraged her. "I worked at Children's back in Utah. Got a lot of kids there that didn't want to continue their workouts after...well, after their accidents. It's good you've kept it up."

"My doctors were tyrants," Elspeth smirked.

"Yeah," he nodded, "we're good at that. Well, I'll let you go about your business. I'm supposed to start helping out down here today. Finally got everything moved into the new house in town."

"You don't live on campus?" Elspeth asked.

"The wife likes to have me all to herself," Dr. Barker wiggled his eyebrow at her.

"Okay," Elspeth laughed and shook her head. _Way too much information. _"If you'll excuse me then. Come on, Rift."

"See you in class," he waved goodbye.

"See ya'," Elspeth slipped past him and into the hallway. _That guy's a trip._

She was still half laughing, half shuddering to herself at the thought of Dr. Barker and his wife together when the elevator arrived at her floor and she rolled out. Her laughter died when she saw who was waiting for her though.

"Mr. Edgewood," Elspeth quickly battened down the hatches on her expression. Cool, strong green eyes stared back at Kyle Edgewood as he leaned against her door. "How may I help you today?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for two days now," Kyle told her.

"I'm sorry," Elspeth cocked her head and lied through her teeth. "I didn't know you were looking for me. I've been a bit busy lately."

"Doing what?" Kyle asked.

"Excuse me?" The slayer's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe that's any of your business."

"I'm your Watcher, Elspeth," Kyle gave her a tight grin. "Everything you do is my business. Can't have you going off and getting _hurt, _now can we?"

Elspeth gripped the wheels of her chair and fought the rage that flooded through her. _Well, we finally found what trips my slayer trigger. Lovely!_

"I am an adult, Mr. Edgewood," she sent him and icy smile. "And while I appreciate that you are trying to do your job, I do not need constant monitoring. Perhaps I could e-mail you my schedule and we could communicate that way. Oh wait, your spelling never was that good..."

"Listen, you little...," Kyle straightened up quickly and stepped forward.

"Somethin' the matter here?" Faith's husky voice stopped them cold. Elspeth clamped her mouth shut and looked up at the ceiling, sighing. Kyle straightened his tie as it had been his plan all along and smiled at Faith.

"Just a little slayer Watcher tiff, Ms. Lehane," he explained kindly.

"That's cool," Faith eyed him lazily, leaning against the corner she had just rounded. Elspeth craned her head around and felt her heart pick up speed just from looking at the other slayer. It had been a long time since they'd been able to talk. Faith smiled tightly at her, "Hey, Lucky Girl, you got a minute?"

"No problem," Elspeth agreed, turning completely around. Rift wagged his tail a little, Faith was one of his favorite people. She would take him on really long runs and even let him hunt squirrels sometimes. "We can continue this discussion at a different time, Mr. Edgewood."

"Right," Kyle plastered a fake smile on his face and retreated for the time being.

"Asshole," Faith snorted when he finally got out of hearing distance. "We really need to get you a new Watcher, Lucky Girl. That one's out to get you. In fact, I'm not sure I'd even trust him with a regular slayer."

"So now I'm not normal," Elspeth's voice was dry, but she registered a little stab of pain in her chest at Faith's words.

"You've never been normal," Faith lightened her words with a smirk. "But that's what makes you so much fun."

"I'm glad I could provide you with so much amusement," Elspeth's rejoinder was more settled this time. _Stop being so damn touchy, Elspeth. _"I'm sorry. I'm just a little tired right not, not to mention a little pissed off. I was having such a good day and then..."

"Then Watcher-wannabe over there shows up," Faith nodded her understanding. _She looks tired. _Elspeth's green-eyes had developed dark-circles under them in the past week or so. The sleeveless gray tank she was wearing had sweat marks and she had pulled her hair up into a short ponytail. Faith lifted a brow as she noticed Elspeth's fingers clenching and unclenching on her wheel rims, the muscles in her well-toned arms rippling a little with unspent energy. _It's her hands that give her away, _Faith realized. _She's trained her face and eyes to show nothing and she can't pace, but ten bucks says she really wants one of those yo-yo's she carries around right now. _

"What did you need to talk to me about, Faith?" Elspeth got the question out.

Seeing Faith this close up after two weeks of nothing was pushing her control. _You made a decision, _Elspeth castigated herself, _now stick to it. If you're going to have _any _chance with this woman...provided she swings that way at all...you have to be walking on your own two feet first! _Elspeth wasn't too sure when the notion had entered her head, it had just always sort of been there. Hope for all sorts of things had been rushing back lately, dreams she'd thought had died a long time ago.

"It can wait," Faith paused, shifting a little under the intensity of Elspeth's gaze. It roused something in her she wasn't sure she liked. She knew she had no hope of meeting the expectation in those eyes, she'd long been knocked off her pedestal. _Hell, I smashed the fucking thing to pieces myself. _ "We gotta take care of your Watcher problem first. I'm gonna go talk to Robin."

"No." Elspeth shook her head, "I appreciate your thought, Faith. But I'm adult. I can deal with Mr. Edgewood on my own."

"I'm sure you could," Faith agreed. "But why should you have to?"

"I don't want to take advantage of our...our friendship, Faith." Elspeth cut her gaze down.

"You're not," Faith assured her. "If I thought for a second that you would, we wouldn't be friends. But whether you like it or not, I'm technically your boss. That means I get to decide what's best for you, and Mr. Wannabe ain't it. Deal?"

Elspeth's eyes widened as Faith drew herself up and stared down at her. _She's technically right, I guess. I don't think of her like that normally, but she is the Head Slayer of the whole Council. _

"Alright," Elspeth finally nodded her agreement. "Do you want to go talk to Mr. Wood right now or would you prefer to go later?"

"Eh..," Faith slumped a little and looked at her oddly, her former assurance lost. "When I said I'd deal with it, I meant me..."

"Surely you don't think I'm going to let you deal with this alone," Elspeth eyed her, her own confidence returning a bit. _Not that 'take-charge' Faith isn't sexy as hell, but she can really be so adorable when she's confused. _"We can both present my case to Mr. Wood together."

"You are such a trip, Lucky Girl." Faith shook her head and gave up. She looked Elspeth up and down and sniffed, "If I weren't a hot chick with superpowers, I might start feeling inferior. In fact, I would actually start to feel sorry for Mr. Wannabe if he weren't such a dick. Let's go then, no time like the present and all that shit."

"We spend a lot of our time in elevators, don't we?" Elspeth asked a moment later as they waited in the aforementioned place. Robin's office was on the third floor while the normal slayers' quarters were located in the west wing of the school. Elspeth had been placed there instead of the trainee's dormitory in the east wing given her age, as was often done with Watcher-candidates.

"Eh," Faith shrugged, "Gives me an excuse to avoid the stairs. That's my only real complaint about this place. Xander got the place pretty cheap so I can't complain too much, but fuck the Stairmaster, all I gotta' due is go to my room. It's the same workout. But God forbid the Head Slayer be seen as a weakling, gotta' go up and down the things with a smile on my damn face."

"Jesus," Elspeth burst out laughing at the image of Faith smiling while running up and down the stairs like and idiot ran through her mind. "That's insane."

"Don't I know it," the dark-haired slayer grinned, glad to have put a smile on her friend's face. "Stupid kids have got so much energy. It's like running around with fifty or so Energizer Bunnies. And they're so...so _bouncy_ and _giggly_. I feel like I'm in some hell dimension where 'Teen' Magazine has taken over sometimes. The time I get with you in the elevator is just about the only time I have complete quiet."

"Faith, I'm...," Elspeth broke off as the elevator dinged, opening its doors and ending the moment. _I was about to tell her...tell her everything. Ah well, there but for the grace of God and all that. _

"Lucky Girl," Faith looked back at her as she stepped out of the elevator and smiled sadly. "Don't you worry about me, I'm five by five."

"The signal has excellent strength and perfect clarity? I didn't know you were into analog radios, Faith." Elspeth was sidetracked by the offside remark.

"Huh?" Faith reached out and stopped the elevator from closing, allowing Elspeth to get off. "What the hell do ana..whatsis' radios have to do with it?"

"It's a term to distinguish the best of twenty-five possible subjective responses used to describe the quality of communications. NATO uses it," Elspeth explained. "How did you hear it?"

"When I was a kid, real young, my mom used to have this old record player." Faith led the way to Robin's office. "She had all these crappy ballads she used to play, sappy love stuff. I hated 'em. But one of her joh...er boyfriends, left behind this record one time. It was an EP, extended play, by the Rolling Stones. The title was 'Five by Five'. I used to play it when she was...asleep or gone, totally wore out side B. Anyway, I kept wondering why the hell it was called 'Five by Five' and ended up asking the guy down at this record store I used to hang out by. He told me it meant 'everything's all good'."

"Well, it does," Elspeth nodded, "It just originates from short-wave radios, that's all."

"Cool," Faith knocked on Robin's door as they arrived, frowning a little.

_"What the hell is this thing?!" Her mother screamed the question into Faith's face. _

_ Her eyes were wild, blood-shot from the stuff she'd injected into her veins last night. Her dark hair was flying everywhere, brittle from one too many perms and greasy because she hadn't had a shower in three days. She still had her make-up on, smeared from last night._

_ "It's just a record, mom." Faith cowered back, trying not to grimace at the smell. She thought she'd hidden the vinyl well enough, but her mother had ripped Faith's bedroom apart looking for the money she was sure that Faith was hiding from her._

_ "It's a fucking piece of garbage is what it is!" The record shattered into dozens of pieces as it was flung against the far wall. "Come here, you little brat. I'll teach you not to hide things from me!"_

"It's always nice to learn new things," Faith's voice was calm as she shook off the past and walked into Robin's office, leaving the door open for Rift to close.

"Faith." Robin Wood stood up as they entered a pleasant smile on his face. "Elspeth, what can I do for you two today?"

"We need you to change Lucky Girl's Watcher, Wood." Faith told him flat out.

Robin scowled, his shoulders going back. "I'm afraid that's going to be pretty much impossible, Faith. We don't have anyone else to take over Elspeth's case. You know we're critically short on Watchers."

"They're not getting along, Robin," Faith angrily shook her head. _Calm down, _she reminded herself. _It's not his fault you're in such a bad mood. You need to get along with him. _She took a deep breath and tried to explain. "The guy's an ass, Robin. He keeps coming down on her."

"Faith," Robin tried to be reasonable, "Given your own past with Watchers, don't you think you might be projecting a little."

"My past has nothing to do with this, Robin." Faith felt her calm receding, it's edges raggedly slipping through her fingers. She shifted a little and took a quick look down at Elspeth. "I'm not projecting anything. I know you think you're doing the right thing but..."

"Faith," Robin's voice took on that placating tone she hated. _I hated it when we were bouncing around on a mattress and I haven't learned to like it since. _"Look, I understand that you two are friends and that you want her to protect her, but we all need to bend a little around here."

"Wood, I know more about bending than you'll ever dream of," Faith sneered, her temper beginning to take over, old arguments being drug up. "But this is just the same shit as before. You patting me on the head like a kid and sending me off while the big kids work everything out. But I'm not a little kid, Robin, and neither is she. She's an adult and a damn smart one at that. Smarter than me or you, as much as that may sting. You should be learning more about her before you go and make decisions."

"There's a reason you always got patted on the head, Faith." Robin slapped his hands on the desk and leaned forward, his own temper making itself known. "You can't seem to think of the big picture or control your emotions. Because what I see now makes me think of the old Faith. Maybe you haven't grown as much out of those homicidal ways as you keep saying. What are you going to do next, slayer? Kill me, like you used to do to anyone else who wouldn't agree with you?"

"What?!" Elspeth yelped without meaning to. She looked wide-eyed up at Faith. The other slayer had gone red and was shaking with rage. She was glaring holes in Robin Wood, her teeth bared.

"Shut the fuck up!" Faith roared. She looked down helplessly at Elspeth, who was looking at her like she never had before. _Like I'm a monster! Well, hell with it, I am! _"Look, just listen to her story and take care of her. If she isn't switched over, Robin, you can expect me to take care of it my way."

Then Faith stalked out of the office before she either killed Robin Wood or broke down in front of Elspeth Harsgrove, the door rattled as she slammed it behind her.

….

The car sat on the dirt path, just off the main highway. It was a station wagon, brown and white with a little rust on the wheels, but it still ran well. The engine was off right now, clicking idle as it cooled down in the night air. A cone from one of the surrounding pine trees fell on its hood, chipping the paint a little. The occupants inside its heavily fogged windows didn't really notice it though; they were busy with other things.

"I can't get this stupid...crap!," Gary Pelson cursed as he fumbled with his girlfriend's bra strap.

"Calm down, Gary," Saralyn Waters grinned up at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Right," Gary huffed and forced himself to slow down. "Sorry....I'm a little...It's just we never get to see each other."

"I know," Saralyn kissed him softly on the mouth and they both lost the thread of the conversation as the kiss grew more heated. "We can't...on campus...and your house..."

"Damn sisters...," Gary mumbled as he ran a hand down her curves, entranced.

"God bless big back seats," Saralyn chimed as she began unbuckling his pants. She wiggled down, sneaking a glance up at him. "Let's see what we can find down here, shall we?"

Gary pushed himself up onto his knees, leering a bit. "You're gonna find...Holy Shit!"

"I'm gonna find shit?" Saralyn arched a brow as she rested on her elbows, shirt undone and gaping open.

"There was something out there," Gary startled buckling his pants up quickly. "It was fucking big! Ran right by the window."

"Describe it," he looked down at his girlfriend's cold demand. She was buttoning her shirt now and completely ignoring him.

"It was big," Gary complied, a little bemused.

"People big or dog big?" Saralyn was on her knees now, reaching for her purse.

"People big," Gary answered, "But I only got a glimpse of it. Damn windows are all fogged up. Maybe if I..."

A clawed fist smashed through the side window that Gary was reaching for and grabbed his wrist. Before Saralyn could react, her boyfriend was ripped through the window screaming. She was up on all fours, diving out of the back seat before she could think. Instinct made her tuck and role, but she was still a little cut up by the glass as she landed on it. _Thank God for vehicle standards and safety glass, _was all she could think as she jumped to her feet brandishing the stake she had managed to snatch from her purse.

"Gary!" Saralyn yelled as she saw her boyfriend sprawled out on the ground a few feet away from the car. She ran over to him, scanning the trees for their attacker.

"Uhh...Sar..," Gary moaned as he lifted his head. He was bleeding freely from the claw marks on his cheek. The thing had slashed his stomach open and he was holding his insides in with both arms. Blood so red it seemed black was pouring out over his fingers, spilling onto the pine needles and grass "Hurts..."

"I know, baby," Saralyn almost sobbed, but stopped herself. _Gotta be calm, gotta be cool. _She allowed the slayer inside her a little more rein, using the anger to keep her head clear. "You just hold on. I'm gonna make it all better soon."

"Careful...careful...," the low-pitched voice echoed around her, whispering. "Shouldn't...shouldn't...make promises....promises..."

"You have no idea who you are messing with," Saralyn growled and crouched low, eying the tree line. She jumped at movement out of the corner of her eye, but it was just an owl. Its eyes flashed as it flicked it's wings at her.

"R...run!" Gary ordered, coughing a little. "Run, Saralyn!"

"No can do, baby," Saralyn shook her head. "When we get out of this, I've got some things I need to tell you though. I'm not exactly normal. See, I'm a...shit!"

She slapped her hand down on the stinging wound on her bare stomach, she hadn't had time to completely button up. She could feel something there, below the surface of her skin. It felt hard and round, like a bead. Just as she registered it, another round caught her in the arm. Her vision started to gray out and she staggered, fighting to remain on her feet. _I lost my concentration, just like Ms. Karen is always yelling at me about. Guess she was right..._she collapsed as another bead took her in the back, landing heavily. _I didn't even get a chance..._

"Saralyn...Sara..," Gary began dragging himself toward his girlfriend, gritting his teeth. That thing out there had broken a few of his ribs and he was bleeding heavily from his stomach. His left eye was closed, the cut over his brow draining blood into it.

"She's a slayer," the monster coalesced out of the darkness, grinning down at him. Gary stared up at the face of his nightmare and almost choked.

"A what?" he babbled.

"A vampire slayer," it told him. "She wasn't human. She was lying to you the whole time. What do you think of that, boy?"

"But she's just Saralyn," Gary got out. _I'm gonna die like those idiots in the horror movies, _he couldn't help but think. _The ones you think are so stupid for walking out into the dark. But..but I didn't think it could happen to _me!

"Not for long." It smiled at him nastily. Gary watched as the monster knelt down and put a needle into his girlfriend's elbow almost delicately.

"Stop that," he growled, trying to get up. "I'll kill you. You leave her alone!"

"Shut up," it backhanded him, breaking his jaw and causing him to collapse onto the ground.

He groaned in pain and frustrated helplessness, watching as his nightmare pulled a knife from somewhere and began making slices in his precious Saralyn's skin. The curves he had so lovingly touched and admired were ripped away with a wet tearing sound as his groans turned to sobs. Then, when the process was finished, it came to put him out of his misery.

............

Author's Note:

I'm glad to see that more people have picked up on this story and are sending in reviews and alerts. It always gives me a little lift when I get those;) Okay, we're now getting into the nitty-gritty of the story and I would like to once again remind people that I am neither a doctor nor a scientist. I research this stuff the best I can, but it's quite possible that I am making mistakes. If any of you out there _are_ doctors or scientists and would like to offer me your opinion and/or services as a source, then I would be more than happy to pick your brains!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Nothing in my hat...nothing up my sleeve....Presto!...Darn, didn't work, it's still not mine:(

.....

"Checkmate," Elspeth said. Her hand withdrew from the black and white board as she placed her black knight on it's new square.

Robin Wood stared at the board, his eyes a little wide. _It's not like I'm bad at this game. In fact, I'm damn good. So what just happened? _He looked up to see green eyes staring at him and almost shivered. When had things turned to topsy turvy?

_"So are you going to tell me what all that was about?" Elspeth asked. The reverberation from Faith slamming the office door had just settled. Robin turned to look at the woman who was at the center of this mess. _

_ "Faith's just having a temper tantrum," Robin sighed and tried to shrug off the twinge of guilt that echoed in his chest. He didn't know why, but things always turned out this way between them._

_ "No, not that," Elspeth caught his gaze. "I meant about her killing someone."_

_ "You haven't heard?" The principal blinked, nonpulsed, then shook his head. "I suppose it's not really common knowledge after all. Though rumors do get around."_

_ "Enlighten me," Elspeth ordered. Her hands were placed precisely on her thighs, her back completely straight._

_ "If it's not something she told you about...," Robin backed up, the guilty feeling spreading a little through his chest._

_ "I'll make you a deal," Elspeth's eyes flicked to the marble game set on his side table and then back to him. She shrugged casually, "One game. If I beat you, you tell me what you know. If you beat me, I never ask about it again."_

The whizzing sound of Elspeth's yo-yo was continuous as she sat there, staring at him over the chess board. Her gaze never wavered as Robin studied his position. She'd pulled the thing out the moment they'd started playing and it had been snaking in and out the entire time, sometimes pausing or whipping around in a complicated manner. Robin shifted his gaze up from the board to look at his opponent.

"Faith was right," Robin told her, "You should have been a Watcher."

"Why do you say that?" The yo-yo never stopped it's motion.

"You think like one," he said. "Slayers think in-the-moment. It's a Watcher's job to think of the whole picture."

"That's stupid," the toy kept moving as the professor delivered her insult. "What made you come to the conclusion that slayers can't think strategically?"

"I've only met one slayer that thought like that," Robin said. "And even she didn't take into account the world-wide impact of her decisions. Everything was focused on defeating the enemy in front of her."

"From what I understand," Elspeth responded. "Buffy was the first slayer to live as long as she did. Most slayers didn't live long enough to even reach eighteen. You're confusing youth and inexperience with lack of ability. No one thinks of the world when they're a teenager. Most of them can't see beyond their own nose, myself included."

"Well, that's..," Robin started.

"Then there's the fact that the old Council essentially ripped them away from their families," Elspeth continued, ignoring him. "This trauma was then expanded by putting a weapon into their hands, giving them a few lessons in martial arts and shoving them into battle with little to no preparation. Rank privates in the army get more training than that, and they're certainly not allowed out on their own. Nor are they expected to think of strategy. It takes years of training and experience to create a competent officer, much less a general. 'To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.'"

"Yeah, but...," Robin found himself sputtering. _This woman is..._

"I understand that you all are coming from behind with all of this," the slayer snapped her wrist out, the yo-yo flying. "You're used to dealing with only one slayer and a few potentials at a time. All of the standard doctrine was set up for a completely different type of warfare. I congratulate you in that you've come this far in the very little time you've had, but you seriously need to adjust your doctrine to deal with full spectrum operations."

"Who _are_ you?" Robin asked seriously.

"A very good resource who you've not been taking advantage of," Elspeth grinned evilly. "There's a reason I'm a tenured professor at a top ten school at the age of twenty-three. Also, if you really check into my background, teaching's not the only thing I did. But we're not here to discuss me, are we now? You've lost the game, Mr. Wood, and the bet. So tell me what I want to know."

The principle stared at her for a few more minutes and then shrugged. _It's not like I could screw things up anymore than I already have. Note to self, dig a little deeper into this slayer's background and never underestimate her again._

"You understand that I'm getting most of this second-hand," Robin admitted, steepling his fingers as he leaned back in his chair. "I got a little from Faith when we were...involved, but she didn't like to talk about her past at all. Still doesn't, apparently. That's become even more true over the last year or so. Despite what I said before, she really has matured since I first met her. Having all the girls depend on her seems to have been good for her. We just seem to bring out the worst in...never mind. Faith's past, okay..."

An hour or so later Elspeth's mind was running around in circles like a gerbil on a wheel. Robin had spared no detail, telling her exactly how Faith had fallen from grace; killing innocents in cold blood and even torturing her former Watcher. _At least now I know why she froze up when she talked about that Wesley guy. Hell, it answers so _many_ questions. _Elspeth flipped in her yo-yo, snatching it from the air and returning it to her pocket. _I need to process this._

"Thank you for the information," she nodded to Robin in a preoccupied manner. She put her hands on the wheels of her chair and turned around. Rift rose to his feet next to her and looks at her questioningly.

"Wait," Robin's hand raised a bit. "What are you going to do with all this?"

"I don't know yet," Elspeth told him.

"Okay," Robin drawled. _This woman confuses the hell out of me. She sat through me telling her her new friend was formerly a cold-blooded killer and didn't bat an eyelash. Does nothing affect her? _"What do you want me to do about Mr. Edgewood?"

"If you reassign me to a different Watcher, what will you do with Mr. Edgewood?" The slayer asked. "Will a new slayer be given to him?"

"We don't have Watchers to waste," Robin told her. "He'll have to be reassigned."

"Then leave him with me for now," Elspeth blinked and shifted her gaze up and to the right, thinking a bit. "I know I can deal with Mr. Edgewood. Better me than unleashing him on some poor young girl."

"He can't be that bad," Robin protested.

"Yes," Elspeth told him, "he is. Mr. Edgewood has an excellent mind. He is a superb researcher, but he seriously lacks people skills. His faith in his own superiority also flaws his methods at times. You would be better off shuffling him into the catacombs."

"We can't afford to," Robin shook his head.

"If you'll allow me access to your slayer and Watcher roster," she completed her turn and headed for the door. "I'll provide you with a plan that can streamline your training process. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a slayer to find and confront."

"You might want to give her a few days to calm down," Robin instructed. "When she's like this, Faith's not really a nice person."

"Neither am I, Mr. Wood," Elspeth flashed him a toothy grin, eyes bright as she rolled past Rift who was holding the door open. "Neither am I."

…

Elspeth stared at the closed door that refused to open even under her glare and huffed.

"Saying I'm going to give her a piece of my mind is all well and good," she muttered. "But it's not worth a shit if I can't _find_ her! I swear, when I can finally get these useless legs working the first thing I'm gonna do is kick your ass, Faith Lehane...."

She looked down at Rift contemplatively as he sat next to her, narrowing her eyes slightly. He cocked his head and swished his tail back and forth questioningly. _I wonder..., _she finally huffed and looked away. _Nah_. _This situation is making me loose my marbles. _

She'd practically been over this entire campus, looking for her elusive quarry. No dice. _Only one place left. _ Elspeth gave Faith's door one last glare and spun her chair around. She hated the last place left on her list. She'd been there exactly one time and had had to leave before she'd...done something really stupid and emotional. She girded her loins, figuratively of course, as she glided along the hallways. _Down the elevator to the first floor, into the main hall. Go back through the third hallway and push open the big doors. Ignore the looks. _Elspeth chanted these directions to herself as she traversed the way to her destination and finally sat in front to the main doors leading to the place slayers loved most on campus. At least, most slayers.

The main training hall was huge. The size of an Olympic gymnastics room, it had everything the modern slayer could want or need. It was cordoned off into different sections; gymnastics, martial arts, and general physical fitness. There was even a small obstacle course taking over one side of it. The big one was outside. When Faith and Elspeth had trained before, it had been in one of the smaller, individual rooms. There hadn't been anyone there but them. Now there was a group of older slayers being instructed on a large mat in front of her. Steel bands seemed to grip Elspeth's chest and throat as she watched them move with a grace and natural ability that had been ripped away from her twenty years ago by an idiot who'd decided to pick up his keys instead of sleeping it off.

_Stop that, _a new voice ripped through the darkness that always seemed to swallow her. _You've got a chance now! _ _Who knows, you may be up there soon! _Those words gave the slayer courage as she sent herself forward. It was obvious that Faith was not among these slayers but they might know where she was. The instructor stepped into the middle of the mat and held out a simple piece of rope.

"This is a weapon!" She glared at all her charges as if daring them to disagree, speaking in a decided Cockney accent. "In the hands of someone who knows what she's doing, it's pretty damn deadly. It's small, light, and easily concealable. It's also tricky as hell to wield. If I find one of you who can do it well in this group, it'll be a miracle."

"The rope-dart is primarily a long-ranged stealth weapon. We have modified ours. We merged it with the meteor hammer, which is like the rope-dart's bigger, meaner cousin. This weapon consists of a rope, usually about five meters long, that's about sixteen feet five inches to you Americans, and a metal dart on the end. You can change the dart out from a diamond shape to a conical shape, but for our use, we prefer the conical shape as a core with a wooden sheath on the outside. We made the dart a lot heavier and about twenty centimeters, or eight inches, long"

The instructor suddenly flung the weapon out in a straight line, flicking it toward a student in a lightning fast motion. The girl didn't even have time to back up as the dart flew at her heart but the instructor stopped it an inch or so from impact by grabbing the rope and yanking back. The whole movement had been performed before Elspeth could blink, and suddenly the rope-dart was coiled peacefully back on the instructors arm. _It's like a cobra, just waiting to attack._

"A normal human can do a lot of damage with this thing," the instructor continued without pausing. "A slayer can do more. You can throw a stake at a vampire, but then it has a bad habit of going poof with the dead baddie. And there you are, stuck with a bunch more vamps, and a pile of ash as your only weapon. With this thing, you don't have that problem."

"I direct your attention to the lovely watermelons located to your right," she swung her arm out at everyone looked that way. Twelve watermelons were lined up on poles on a large, clear piece of plastic. "The watermelon is about the consistency and toughness of the human head."

She spun the weapon in front of her in a circular motion, then wrapped it around her neck. Using the momentum of the swing, she used her shoulders and head to fling it out faster as it unwrapped. Faster and faster the dart swung the end now visual only because of the red material tied near the end. She used her whole body, shoulders, arms, and finally her legs as she kicked the dart out to slam into the melon in the center. The dart smashed into the melon and exploded out the other side, sending bits of red insides flying onto the plastic below. The instructor reeled the rope in, wrapping it around her shoulders in a final movement.

"Nothing recovers from that very easily," the girls murmured to each other at the instructor's final comment, smiles on their faces. "Grab a dart and then spread out. I mean _really_ spread out, because people have a tendency to let go of the rope a lot. Move!"

As the girls eyed each other in mistrust for a second at the final comment and then gradually took their weapons to their assigned areas, the instructor took notice of her audience. She raised an eyebrow and jumped down off the mat to come toward Elspeth. Elspeth watched the dart swing in her hand with keen eyes. _I want one of those, _she decided.

"Can I help you?" The instructor asked as she got nearer.

"I'm looking for Faith," Elspeth told her. "I don't suppose you know where she is?"

"The Head Slayer took a patrol out on a daytime sewer sweep," she was told. "I'm Alisha. I just got over here from England. We haven't been introduced."

"I'm Elspeth Harsgrove," Elspeth held out her hand. The two women shook hands, measuring each other. Alisha was an older slayer, having been on the cusp age as a potential, she'd been Chosen very close to her nineteenth birthday.

"You a full Watcher or a W.I.T.?" Alisha used the common name for Watcher-in-Training.

"Neither," Elspeth found herself less reluctant than usual to reveal herself. Perhaps it was her own secret knowledge of a cure for her legs, or maybe it was just the fact that Alisha looked her in the eyes and not at her legs. "I'm a slayer."

"Trippy," Alisha said with a shrug. She held up the weapon that Elspeth's eyes kept going to. "You wanna learn? Faith won't be back for a while."

"Do you think I could?" Elspeth felt herself hesitate, balancing on the cusp of hope and her normal strict realism of her situation.

"We'd have to modify it a bit," the instructor began walking around Elspeth, examining her in the clinical fashion that Elspeth often associated with doctors. "You can't use your feet, but it actually might be a good weapon for you. Something that can come back to you and is easy to carry. The question is, how coordinated are you?"

Elspeth wordlessly took a yo-yo out of each pocket and spun them out in a small demonstration. A big smile began to grow on Alisha's face as she watched the wooden disks flicker and dance. Elspeth recreated a smaller version of Alisha's own demonstration with the rope-dart, swinging the yo-yo around her neck to speed it up and then yanking it back.

"I'm ambidextrous," Elspeth said as she slipped the toys back into her pockets. "I always have been, even before...being Chosen."

"I love it!" Alisha crowed, her eyes dancing. "So many slayers are focused on hard weapons. They think it's so cool to have the sword or something. It's hard to find one that appreciates soft weapons. We're gonna have fun together, Elspeth Harsgrove!"

"What about your other students?" Elspeth nodded in the direction of the students who were not-so-subtly trying to listen in on their conversation.

"Them?" Alisha whirled around and glared and suddenly the girls were all business, swinging their ropes around industriously. Then one knocked herself in the head with a dart, causing her to collapse on the ground and moan. Alisha shrugged, "I'll have them run laps. They might not kill themselves that way."

"You mind if I ask you about that?" Alisha gestured to the wheelchair after she had ordered the class outside to run laps around the campus. The girls had almost seemed happy to escape the ropes, tossing them into the bin with relief. More than one of them were now sporting painful bruises and the girl who'd knocked herself out had been transported to the clinic. "Some nasty get you?"

"He was nasty," Elspeth agreed, "But he was of the human variety. Drunk driver when I was four. My parents didn't make it. I was 'lucky', I suppose."

"That's a bitch," Alisha nodded. "So what were you looking for Faith for?"

"She's usually my weapons teacher," Elspeth told the truth while avoiding the subject. All the feelings of anger and confusion that had been suppressed by her fascination with the new weapon welled back up again.

"Ahhh," Alisha just shrugged, deciding to drop the subject. "Well, let's get on with this, shall we?"

…..

"Well you look like you're having a good day today," Adyn bantered as he finished up with the final nerve test, drawing his hand away from her bare foot.

"It's fifty-fifty so far," Elspeth pushed herself up off the table and shrugged. "Got some really shocking news about somebody, then made a new friend."

"Oh?" The doctor lowered the table and rolled her chair over, locking the wheels in place. He watched as she smoothly transferred herself over to the chair, having long learned that she had no need for assistance.

"Yes," Elspeth settled herself in, she'd changed over to her court chair for the workout an the lack of the high back allowed her more movement. Shelooked back up at him. "Her name's Alisha. She's teaching me how to kill things."

"You know," Adyn quipped as he led her toward the back, "In any other place that might sound odd, but here it's pretty much standard. Strange what you become used to isn't it?"

"This place is pretty strange," Elspeth agreed. "I saw one of the magick-workers floating a vase of flowers the other day. Freaked me out a little, I knew they existed, but I've never seen magick in action before. Nobody else even blinked."

"Yeah," the doctor led her to a pair of low parallel bars situated near a mat. "Wait till you meet Willow. I saw her work magick one time, right before she left for India. Scared the hell out of me."

"She's the Scooby big wig that made us all...what we are, isn't she?" Elspeth eyed the bars with a mix of trepidation and wild elation. She appreciated what Adyn was doing, trying to keep her mind off of what was going to happen next, but it wasn't really helping. _I don't know what I'm going to do if this doesn't work._

"So they say," Adyn nodded. "Okay, here we are. Now normally it'd take a few people to do this, one to help you lift and all that. But your own arm strength should keep you up."

"It's good to have superpowers," Elspeth breathed out harshly.

"Yes it is." The doctor placed himself in front of her as she rolled herself up to the edge of the mat. Then he reached down and lifted her feet, placing them on the mat. "You do the hard work and I'll provide direction. Once we do get you up and standing, don't do anything for a few minutes. Take some time to reorient yourself and get your balance. Okay?"

"I understand," Elspeth nodded sharply and reached for the bars. With a final deep breath, she pulled herself forward and pushed up, balancing on her arms. Dr. Price kept his hands lightly placed on her hips, just in case.

"Good!" Adyn crowed as she stood there.

Elspeth blinked, staring at Adyn's collarbone. She looked up at him. "I'm kind of tall," was all she could think of to say.

"Compared to where you were before, yes." Adyn smiled down at her. "Look around a little; up, down, side to side. Let your brain process the change of vantage point. You might get a little dizzy at first."

"Okay," Elspeth looked around the room a little, surprised at how right he was. For years, she had seen life from four feet off the ground. Now, as she stood there and looked around, she realized that this was how most people saw the world. Things that had seemed big, like the counter to her right, now seemed normal. Stuff like the stool to her left no longer blocked her view of the world. It was like looking down from a very tall building and seeing the world spread out before her. _I didn't think it would be that big of a difference, _she closed her eyes and then opened them again. _There, things are becoming a bit more normal._

"Good?" Adyn asked. "Ready to try and stand on your own two feet now?"

"Yeah," Elspeth blessed her slayer strength one more time. She didn't feel the strain of holding herself up at all. "Let's do it."

"Alright," Adyn's grip on her hips tightened. "I want you to straighten your legs up. Let's try it, just like in practice."

Elspeth pushed against the floor just like she'd been pushing against Adyn's hand in practice and to her surprise, found herself rising a little. She looked down in shock at her legs and felt herself falling.

"Crap!" She quickly caught herself on her arms and felt Adyn't arms tighten in reflex.

"What happened?" He asked. "Was there any pain?"

"What..no." Elspeth tried to explain, "I just lost my concentration for a second. I was so shocked that it was actually _working_!"

"Hmmm, that's normal." Adyn nodded. "It's not reflexive right now. You're going to have to really concentrate every time you want to move something down there. After awhile it _should_ become reflex, provided everything has healed right."

"So I'll be able to walk unassisted?" The slayer's eyes burned into his, "Maybe even fight?"

"Right now let's concentrate on standing," Adyn cautioned. "This is completely new territory for me, Elspeth. I don't want to promise you something that isn't going to happen."

"Okay," She nodded. _But someday I'm going to be able to walk up to her. Someday I'm going to be able to fight beside her. _The dream burned deep in her soul driving her forward. "Let's try it again."

….

_Fuck, that burns! _Faith hissed as she poured whiskey over the cut on her forearm. To soothe the pain she took a pull from the flask and then slumped down against the wall at her back. The wind ruffled her hair a little as she stared out over the campus grounds. It was just going on evening time and Faith was in one of her favorite spots, the roof of the building. Tucked in behind a heating unit was a little alcove that gave her a clear view of the back lawn. A handy two-by-four jammed up against the door kept away unwanted guests. Faith had no interest in being social at the moment.

She'd taken out two consecutive patrols since the incident in Robin's office, trying to burn off the rage and confusion. The first had pretty much disappeared, but the latter seemed to be hanging on with sharp, nagging little teeth. _This shouldn't even be that big of a deal, _Faith took another pull from the flask. She glanced down at the cut on her arm and snorted, _pure stupidity._ On the last patrol, she hadn't dodged fast enough and the demon she'd been fighting had gotten in a lucky swipe with a claw. All because she'd been distracted. She'd had no interest in going down to the clinic and interacting with Dr. Price-Is-Right and possibly encountering Elspeth, so here she was; up on the roof, using whiskey to try and clean her wounds, inside and out.

_What the hell am I doing up here anyway?_ The dark-haired slayer questioned herself. _It's not like I've never had people find out about my past. I've never cared about their reactions before, so why now? _Faith thought back on her relationship with Elspeth. They hadn't known each other long, but that hadn't seemed to matter. Right from the start there'd been something between them, something Faith had been reluctant to define. _She was my friend, at least the closest thing I've ever had to one in a long damn time. _

_ I had a chance at friendship with Buffy and the gang, _she recognized. _Totally screwed that up, of course. _She got along with Willow and the rest now, but it wasn't like they were drinking buddies or anything. Faith had never been one to blab her secrets to people anyway. Buffy, well she and Buffy had resolved their issues as much as they could with out a bottle of Jack or drop down fight. Faith wouldn't ever tell her, but the day the blond slayer had handed her the Scythe and made her Head Slayer had been one of the best in her life. But it wasn't as if she could talk to Buffy now anyway, the girl was running around over in China somewhere according to her last postcard.

_The person I want most to talk to is...well I may not want to believe he's dead, but he's no where I can talk to him now. _Faith had insisted on being on the clean up squad that had gone down to L.A. but she'd found nothing to indicate Angel has survived. Still, she wasn't giving up hope. She fully believed he'd come walking out of the shadows someday. _But he's not here, so you're gonna have to figure this out yourself, _Faith castigated herself.

_Okay, _she shifted a little against the brick wall, _let's attack this thing from the side. Why don't I want her to know about my past? _

_Becau__se I don't want her to look down on me_, came the immediate answer.

_Why do I care if she looks down on me? I've never cared before? _Her devil's advocate asked.

_Yes I have, I just didn't want to admit to myself. I cared when Buffy looked down on me, even Giles sometimes. I cared when the Mayor was disappointed and Angel too. I don't want to disappoint the people I...respect._

_So I respect her and I want her approval, I can dig that. But it was different this time, I was practically _desperate_ for Robin not to tell her. Why? _The questioning voice gave no quarter. _Why?_

_Because she looks at me like I'm worth something, like I'm somebody! _Faith practically screamed the answer to herself, squeezing her eyes shut._ All she's ever known was Faith, Head Slayer. The responsible, important person. Elspeth never knew the girl that ran sobbing from Kakistos when he killed her Watcher or the one that hid under the bed when her mom's customers would come over. She doesn't know the me that would jump into a one to five fight just to _feel_ something. And she certainly doesn't know the me that signed up with the mayor and started killing people for fun; the one that tortured a man so that another would kill her because she didn't have the courage to do it herself._

_I want to be strong for her, _Faith shuddered and pulled her knees up to her chest. She couldn't stop shaking as the realization washed over her. _I want to _be_ the person that she thinks I am. I want her to look at me with admiration, not disgust. Shit! How'd she do that...become so important in such a short period of time?_

Faith slammed her head back against the brick of the wall and breathed deeply. The pain helped clear the tight feeling in her chest. She let loose a curse as the Blackberry in her pocket began vibrating. A shaking hand dug it out of her pocket.

"This is Faith," she answered.

"Faith, it's Russell," the detective spoke into her ear. "We've got another one."

Faith tipped her head back and drained the rest of the flask. It was that kind of day.

….

"To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away." -- Confucius 480 B.C.

Author's Note:

So I'm happy to notice that there are still people out there who are reading my stuff. Thank you guys for the continued support! I like this story, but it's frustrating sometimes. It's the first time I've ever created a fully developed original character and man, is she a b#$%! I kinda like her though...

I have had some questions about the sequel to Empowered (to which this is the prequel) and have decided to put it up to a vote. I have some vague nigglings as to where I want to take the story, but admit that I could be swayed one way or the other. The main issue seems to be whether or not to make the story a crossover or not; and if so, with what.

So here is the question I'm putting to a vote:

Should the sequel to Empowered be a crossover: yes or no?

If you vote yes and you have a preference for what show, chime in as well.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!.....not...mine! *whimper*

I just want to apologize for being so late, details to be discussed below if you're even slightly interested;)

**Chapter 12**

_"Did you hear what happened!" _

_ "About Saralyn, I know! It's so freaky!"_

_ "And what about Mary, it just tore their skin off. Who's it gonna come after next?"_

_ "I heard they don't have any idea what did it..."_

_ "Shhhh...here comes...."_

Faith wished really hard for a cigarette as she ignored the whispers from the surrounding girls and continued down the hall. She'd just spent the night running around in the woods looking for some kind of trace of what had killed Saralyn Waters and her boy toy and had found exactly zilch. The only good news was that Russell's techs had finally come through. It turned out the dust at Mary Jeffries house _had_ been bone dust, but something was wrong. _Usually when a vamp goes all dusty, there's a fairly healthy pile of the stuff, but not this time. There was barely a handful of dust according to the techs, and no wind to blow it away. I suppose something else could have happened to it...but it just doesn't _feel_ like a vampire attack. But if not a vamp, then what?_

And there was one other thing that didn't add up. The lab had also found Fentanyl in her system. _What the hell kind of vamp pumps his victims full of painkiller before he eats 'em? Was he trying to get high, like the vamps in L.A.? But Fentanyl's not a hallucinogen, it's a pain killer. I've heard of people gettin' hooked on morphine and shit, but a vampire? I've seen weirder, I guess...but that still doesn't answer the question of how they took not one, but two slayers down!_

"Fuck!" Faith threw the door to her office open and slammed it shut behind her. "Could this day get any worse?"

"I guess it depends on your definition of worse," the voice caused Faith to spin slightly to her left and see Elspeth sitting in the far corner of her office, patiently waiting.

"How'd you get in here?" Faith asked, catching herself before she stepped back. _What the hell am I scared of?_

"I intimidated some Watcher into telling me where your office was," Elspeth told her. She glanced around at the small room that had a desk with a computer on it, a chair, and two file cabinets. "I've never been up here before. It looks...sterile."

"I do paperwork here," Faith snorted, trying to act natural as she sauntered toward her desk. _I don't need this shit right now. I've been up for over forty-eight hours, I'm frustrated, and really pissed off._ "Why would I need decoration to do paperwork?"

"Fair enough," Elspeth rolled forward. Faith had nonchalantly leaned herself against her desk and Elspeth placed herself right in front of the other slayer, almost blocking her in. "We need to talk."

"Why?" Faith shrugged and slouched down some more. _I need to get out of here...I need...fuck! How can she make me feel like this? _It was a burning sensation, deep in her belly. _I wish she'd just tell me she hates me and get it over with!_

"I can understand why you didn't tell me about what you'd done." Faith's head whipped up and her eyes widened at Elspeth's words. This was not what she'd been expecting. "I felt a bit like an idiot when Principle Wood brought it up the other day in his office, but I get it. You don't know me very well, and I get that you don't like to talk about your past. What I don't like is your avoidance of me the past few days."

"I haven't...," Faith tried, then stopped at Elspeth's glare.

"I haven't done anything to deserve you ignoring me, Faith." Elspeth spoke coldly. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. This was hard enough, she couldn't stop now. "I thought we were okay with each other, even friends maybe..."

"We are!" The words shot out of Faith's mouth before she could stop them. "I just...I couldn't...I didn't want you to see me like that!"

"Like what?" Elspeth cocked her head, now she was thoroughly confused.

"Like a...a murderer!" The slayer's hand slammed down on the desk and her fingers dug into the wooden overhang. The wood groaned a bit under the stress. "I don't know exactly why I give a shit, but I do. I'm not a nice person, Lucky Girl. Hell, it's probably better that you do know. I'm not a good person to hang around, people have a habit of ending up dead around me. You should avoid me like the plague."

"Bullshit! Whatever made you think I thought you were nice?" Elspeth threw her hands up.

"Umm...?" Faith blinked, surprised at the first cuss word she'd ever heard the other woman speak.

"Jesus Christ, Faith, I'm not a child!" Elspeth glared at her. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not really nice myself. I'm a cranky bitch most of the time! People tend to avoid _me_ like the plague when they _really_ get to know me."

"But you're not a killer!" Faith snapped. She jumped up and shoved her face into Elspeth's, breath rasping in and out. She was so close she could see the faint flecks of black in Elspeth's wide green eyes. _It's better if she gets scared and leaves now rather than later...better for both of us. _She pushed closer, trying to intimidate the other woman. "I am, Lucky Girl. There was a time when I would have shoved a knife into anybody who looked at me sideways. Want. Take. Have. I've killed in cold blood and I tortured my Watcher. What makes you think I won't take you out if you push me too far?"

"Because you are not that person anymore, Faith Lehane." Elspeth's hand whipped up and she grabbed Faith by the chin, preventing her from jerking back. Green eyes glared hard into brown, drilling her point home. "Because I trust you. Do you really think I would have uprooted my life and traveled halfway across the country if I didn't?"

"Bullshit!" Faith spat, but she couldn't rip herself away from Elspeth's hold. She was desperately caught in the hope offered in those green eyes. "You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you saved me," Elspeth's grip gentled, but her eyes were still fierce. "I'd have been dead by now if you hadn't shown up. I know those girls out there trust you with their lives and so does everyone else in this building. They wouldn't have made you Head Slayer if they didn't."

"They shouldn't...I...," the dark-haired slayer's breath was heaving in and out now and there was a terrible burning sensation behind her eyes. She bit her cheek. _This is stupid, I should just leave..._

"You were a kid!" Elspeth let go of Faith's chin, but couldn't stop herself from stroking the back of her hand down Faith's cheek. "A stupid kid who made a mistake and couldn't find a way out of it, so you just dug yourself deeper."

"I'm a slayer!" Faith rasped out, slamming her fist into her chest. It felt like the words were torn from her throat. Her ultimate humiliation. "I should have been better than that!"

"You are!" Elspeth yelled. "You were able to stop yourself! You clawed your way out of that hole, Faith. So many people aren't able to, just watch the news if you want proof of that."

"You're wrong," Faith felt a tear spill over as despair welled up in her chest. She hadn't felt like this since that time in Angel's basement when she'd tried to get him to kill her. "I'm still down in that hole and I'm gonna be down there for the rest of my life. I'll never get out, Lucky Girl, and I shouldn't be able to. I've gotta pay for what I did, I get that, but I worry about sliding down deeper every day."

"Then I'll help you," Elspeth spoke without thought. "I'm pretty strong these days, I'll help you climb."

"You can't help me...no one can." Faith whispered. _She's got freckles, _Faith noticed idly as her sobbing breaths slowed a bit, _just a tiny smattering on her nose. It's cute...why did I just notice that?_

"Not if you don't let them, they can't." Elspeth's fingers stroked up and down the smooth skin of Faith's cheek, trying to calm her down. _And isn't that hypocritical coming from I suppose it's true._ "Now, you're going to stop being an idiot and tell me what's going on that's got you running around so frantically. I'm pretty smart, you know, maybe I can help."

"But what about...?" Faith felt herself tense up again.

"As far as I'm concerned, your past is past." Elspeth stopped her with a finger to her lips, pushing her back a little and glaring at her. "Stop freaking out about it, it's not going to change how I feel about you. Trust me, I've probably heard worse."

"I don't know about that," Faith scowled and stood up fully, a bit of her normal cocky attitude returning.

"Doesn't anyone around here know how to run a complete background check?" Elspeth huffed. "You people really need to work on your investigative skills. That's not the issue though, is what I've been hearing in the halls true? Have two slayers really been killed?"

"It's true," The dark-haired slayer shook back her hair and slumped on the desk, ignoring her curiosity for the moment. She probably shouldn't be telling a newbie slayer all about the murders, but she needed someone to talk to and God knows she was getting nowhere so far. "The first victim was named Mary Jeffries..."

Faith proceeded to lay out the whole issue for Elspeth, from the method of death to her own suspicions about the evidence. The other woman sat quietly while she told her story, never interrupting or asking questions. When Faith was done, Elspeth sat there for a few more minutes, processing.

"From what you've told me it seems you've already ruled out a vampire as the culprit," Elspeth stated.

"But the dust...," Faith stopped her protest as Elspeth held up a hand.

"Faith, you shouldn't second-guess yourself like that," she scolded. "While it's true that the bone-dust does indicate the possibility that a vampire was there, it seems that all the other facts point away from it. You shouldn't discount your instincts; you've been doing this a long time."

"My instincts tend to get people killed." Faith remembered the bomb that the First had set as a trap in Sunnydale.

"Don't be an idiot." Elspeth reached out and smacked her on the arm. "How many missions have you run since you've become a slayer?"

"Uhhh…a lot." Faith shrugged, wondering where this was going. "Why?"

"And yet you're still alive and so are most of your people," Elspeth reminded her. "You're a general, Faith, and like it or not, mistakes happen and people die. It's inevitable, but it doesn't mean that you're a bad leader. From what I've seen, you've been doing pretty darn well for someone who's never had any formal training. You need to learn to trust yourself more. If you don't think a vampire killed these girls, then one probably didn't. If there's one thing I've learned while being here it's that slayers are never lacking in things and people trying to kill them. I'm sure there's something out there that uses bone-dust somehow."

"I thought about magick," Faith offered, scratching the back of her head. People didn't usually listen and encourage her like this. It was weird. _Feels kind of good, actually._

"Then go with that," Elspeth suggested. "You've got a whole school full of magick users and Watchers. Put them to use. Researchers live for this sort of puzzle."

"And if I'm wrong?" Faith asked.

"I don't think you are," Elspeth told her. "But if it makes you feel better, hedge your bets a little. Put the place on lock down. Send them out only in squads. This thing seems to be only going after individual slayers and young ones at that, limit it's options. It's obviously killing slayers and taking their skins for a reason, it needs them for something. If you can't find it, force it to come to you, but on your terms."

"Huh," Faith stared down at her friend with newfound respect. "You're a sneaky bitch."

"Eh," Elspeth shrugged with false modesty.

"I like it," the dark-haired slayer grinned. "But don't think I've forgotten about that background check remark, Lucky Girl. I'm gonna figure out what you're talking about."

"When you do, come talk to me." Elspeth smirked. "I'll be happy to discuss it with you."

….

Elspeth rolled curiously through the great oak doors and into the main library on campus. She'd been in here before, for research for class and just to peruse. But she'd never seen it this busy before. Watchers and those in training swarmed all over the stacks and books were strewn about tables in piles. Pages fluttered as people scribbled notes on old-fashioned yellow notepads with a sense of fierce concentration. Off to the right, in the main computer lab, several techs were working just as hard on the monitors located there. Echoing through the rooms was determination with an undercurrent of hard anger. Someone or something had managed to take out two of their slayers, two of _their_ charges, and the Watchers weren't going to let them get away with it.

"Little crazy, isn't it?" Abigail Costello asked from her perch far above Elspeth. The doctor was clinging to a rolling ladder, two books stuffed under her left arm.

"Just a bit," Elspeth smiled back up at her. "Is there any real work being done or are they all just running around like chickens with their heads cut off?"

"Oh, it's actually a form of controlled chaos, believe it or not." Abby climbed down the ladder and walked over to join her friend. "Have you heard of the HDB?"

"Yes, but only a general outline," Elspeth told her. The HDB, or Huge Database of Baddies as it was colloquially known, had been discussed in class, but not in great detail. Elspeth was delighted to have a chance to learn more about it.

"Okay, so you know the history of how the old Council's Headquarters were blown up and a lot of most of their research materials with it?" Abby inquired.

"Yes," Elspeth agreed. The loss of literally thousands of years of history in the form of journals, tomes, and scrolls struck at the very part of Elspeth that made her a researcher and she understood the implications of it. One of the things that had made the old Council so formidable had been it's almost absolute control on the flow of information.

"Well, we've been trying to rebuild our stock," Abby continued. "Mr. Giles and Dawn Summers over in England have been amazing in this regard and we've brought ourselves back up to a respectable level, if not quite the level we were at before. But what we've also been putting everything be can into electronic format. Getting the Council up into the 21st century, so to speak."

"Thank God," Elspeth had been appalled when she'd realized how behind the times the old Council had been. She loved books as much as the next person, but she also knew how much easier it was to gather information with a computer.

"Tell me about it," Abby grinned back. "But the HDB has gone beyond that. What a couple of the tech guys that we got from FBI have done is create a system similar to the one used by the National Criminal Information Center. The slayers report every interaction with baddies; demon type, magick used, number of baddies, etc. All this information goes into the system along with the texts we've scanned and when you want to find something, you just input your search parameters and hit enter."

"Excellent," Elspeth was impressed. It had taken law enforcement years to integrate their systems to that extent. NCIC had originally been created in 1967 by J. Edgar Hoover and hadn't been updated till 2000. One good thing about the Council though was that there weren't any of the internal politics that most law enforcement or intelligence services had, no backstabbing or 'need-to-know'. Part of that was sure to change, Elspeth knew, as it grew older and different people began taking over, but she had a feeling it wouldn't get too bad. "Are you beginning to see any patterns emerging in the data?"

"A few," Abby said. "But it's really too early to tell whether those are just hiccups or actual patterns. We'll need a few more years of data for me to really start trusting any predictions. That and for all of the library to be uploaded. But we have another problem in that regard."

"Oh?" Elspeth raised a brow.

"We're having to be really careful about which books we scan." Abby smirked a little. "Apparently some of the magickal books can have unexpected reactions with technology. I don't really know the whole story, something about Willow and an uploaded demon boyfriend?"

"Okay," Elspeth drawled and then shook her head. She'd have to ask Faith for the whole story later, it sounded like a good one. _I'm believing the strangest things lately..._ "So what have you got on our guy?"

"Well, we've pretty much ruled out a vampire attack," Abby returned to business with a shake of her head. "We've been checking the spell books to see what sort of spells use bone dust as a main component. We've been leaning toward the stun spells because of the fact that neither of our girls really seemed to fight back."

"That seems wise," Elspeth nodded.

"We'll have more to work with when the reports come in from the second scene." Abby said. "Apparently the city techs have gotten off their asses and are expediting the process now."

"Yeah," Faith had told Elspeth about the wait on the evidence before. "It seems there was a bus accident last time, some church bus filled with kids, and that filled up the media's attention. The police certainly weren't going to advertise some little girl getting skinned either. But this time they caught on and now the Mayor is coming down like a ton of bricks on everyone so that there isn't a serial killer scare."

"It's not like we need the advertising either," Abby noted.

"No," the slayer agreed. "Luckily, the media hasn't caught onto the fact that both girls went here, but we can't count on that lasting long."

"I found it!" One of the Watchers came running out of a back room, holding a small brown book in his hand triumphantly. "I figured out what it was."

The rest of the room stopped dead and people turned to look at the man as he opened the book and read aloud to the room.

"From the journal of Marshal Tagman, A Watcher assigned to a slayer named Hok'ee." The Watcher stumbled over the slayer's name and then continued. "'As my slayer comes from a Navajo tribe, I have taken the time and opportunity to study their local magicks. 'Tis quite interesting to note that the locals have several different ways to practice magick, but that is not the point of this entry. Hok'ee encountered something the other night that the locals refer to as a 'skin-walker'"

"A _yee naaldlooshii _as it is called in their language is a practitioner that has broken the taboo of killing a family member. They can shape-shift into the form of any animal so long as they have they have the skin of said animal. Hok'ee said that the one she encountered turned into a wolf to attack some of her tribe's people and then into a raven to run away when she drove it off."

"That would explain the skinning..." someone muttered aloud, breaking the tension in the library.

"Exactly," the Watcher who was reading his head vigorously. "And listen to this, 'I have been told that these skin-walkers also practice magick outside of transformations. Stunning spells such as bone-dust and bone-beads which tranquilize their victims.' He goes on to give a more detailed description of the skin-walker as well as the Navajo magickal practices as a whole."

"There's the link," Abby nodded. There was an excited muttering throughout the room as the Watchers realized they now had a solid lead.

"Okay people," an older man with salt-and-pepper hair held up his hands and addressed everyone. "Let's drop what we're doing and concentrate on this. John, Rose...."

He began handing out assignments and Elspeth grinned up at Elspeth. "I'm going to go find Faith and tell her about the break through."

….

"Ms. Harsgrove," Elspeth cursed under her breath as her Watcher rounded the corner ahead of her. She'd been successfully avoiding him for a while now. _I should have known it was too good to last. The man's hen-pecks worse than a mother-in-law. _

"Mr. Edgewood," she faked a smile up at him, deliberately ignoring his doctoral title just as he had hers. "How can I help you?"

"I've been looking for you." He grimaced at her, his handsome face twisted up and ugly.

"I'm sorry," she lied. "I've been in the library with the other Watchers. You have a fascinating set-up in there."

"Ms. Harsgrove," his voice took on a lecturing tone that made her eyebrows rise, "You are not a Watcher. Should you require any information on demons or magick, you can ask me. As your Watcher, it is my job to educate you in such topics. The Watchers are busy right now with an important assignment. You should not interrupt them."

Elspeth regarded him, the sick feeling of inferiority that he had always been able to make her feel churning in her belly for a moment. She'd always fallen back on anger to deal with the pain in the past, but not this time. _You won't be able to look down on me for long, _she told him silently. _Soon, I'll be out of this chair and then...._

"Mr. Edgewood," her voice was honeyed poison, "the day I rely on you to educate me on anything is the day I hang up _both_ of my doctorates and take up under-water basket weaving, but thank you anyway."

A flush of red crawled up the Watcher's neck and into his cheeks as the insult hit. Elspeth smiled poisonously as she savored her victory and then her eyes caught something she hadn't noticed before. Around Kyle's neck was a length of tan leather with a small suede pouch on the end. Tiny colorful beads had been sewed in an intricate pattern on the bag.

"May I ask where you got that?" Elspeth asked.

"What?" He was offset by her abrupt change of topic. "Got what?"

"The medicine pouch," Elspeth certainly wasn't an expert in Native American Studies, but she knew enough to recognize one.

"From the shaman I was recruiting in Arizona," Kyle confessed before he could stop himself. "Why?"

"No reason," she brushed aside the question. _I think there are Navajo in Arizona. I can't believe I'm even contemplating this though. Kyle is a nasty little piece of work, but I can't see him actually having the balls to kill anyone with his own hands, much less skin them. On the other hand, the murders did start around the time he arrived and he _does_ have a Native American connection._

"Why don't we get together after dinner tonight," she suggested. _I need more time to contemplate this, to go over the details. _"We can have that meeting you're so anxious to have then."

"A.....Alright," he was still reeling a bit from her rapid transition between insulting to curious to accommodating.

"Perfect," Elspeth pushed herself off and continued down the hall, Rift trailing after her and her mind planning out how she was going to tell Faith that her Watcher might be a magickal serial killer.

….

Author's Note:

HOK'EE: Navajo name meaning " abandoned."

TSIISHCH'ILI: Navajo name meaning " curly-haired."

So basically I moved from another country back to America and then hopped around America visiting friends and family. I'm finally settled down again (at least until September;) and should be back on my regular writing schedule! My life is crazy and I'm sorry I didn't get this thing out sooner. I want to thank all my reviewers out there and the people who were impatient and willing to write in and give me a verbal 'kick in the pants' to get me writing faster;)

OMAKE:

Author, Friend #1, Friend #2 (While swaying back and forth on the deck while wearing eye-patches, earrings, and hats): Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me! We......

Friend #3: OMG! What have you done to my boat?

A/F1/F2: Happy Birthday! We just went a little crazy with the streamers and tiki torches...

F3: If you don't clean this up I'm going to kill you all!....Give me that bottle!

(Based on actual events;)


	13. Chapter 13

Note: Obviously I already released this chapter, but I did a stupid thing. I uploaded the un-edited one instead of the edited one, sooooorrry:(

_Disclaimer: It wasn't me...it was the one-armed man! (A tribute to Raymond;)_

Chapter 13

"Well at least we have a name for it now." Faith stuck the fork full of mashed potatoes in her mouth and frowned a little. She chewed and swallowed thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. "Hopefully the tweeds can pull together a list of this thing's vulnerabilities for us. I really want to do it some damage."

"They were going into full research mode when I left the library," Elspeth told her. The two were eating dinner in the teacher's lounge, tucked up in a corner. "The Watcher who wrote the journal seemed to be very thorough. Luckily, it was in one of the old Council member's residences and not in the main library."

"Yeah, otherwise it would have been charcoal and we'd have been shit out of luck." Faith smirked. "The question is, why is this thing coming after slayers all of the sudden?"

"Power, one would presume." Faith cocked an enquiring eyebrow at her statement. "Think about it. The legends say that this skin-walker can literally become whatever skin he wears. If he wants to be fast, he becomes a wolf. If he wants to fly, a crow or an owl. So who's to say this power can't transfer a human's powers as well…or a slayers?"

"Jesus," Faith's eyes went wide. "Would that work?"

"I have no idea," Elspeth shrugged. "Who would be the best person to ask about that?"

"Willow," Faith said right away. "She's mega-witch these days. Not to mention she's hooked in to the slayer-line. She picked you up right away…hey, that's weird. I didn't even think of it, but why hasn't she called to tell us about the new slayers that were Chosen?"

"That's a very good question," Elspeth mused. "Do you have any way to get in contact with her?"

"We have a number," Faith admitted. "But it's only supposed to be used in an Apocalypse. She's off training, trying to get the mojo under control."

"Wouldn't this count as an emergency?" Elspeth asked. "Somebody may be out there stealing slayer powers."

"No," Faith shook her head. "If this witch twisted the line for something bad, Red would already be on the line screaming bloody murder…or taking care of it herself. In which case I'd just feel sorry for the sucker. They must not have been able to do anything yet."

"Is she really that powerful?" Elspeth inquired. She'd been hearing all about this Willow person since she'd got here and admitted to being curious. _It'd be interesting to meet the person that gave me this gift. I mean, without her I doubt that I'd have been Chosen. And no Choosing means no meeting Faith and certainly no walking. I have a lot to thank her for._

"I wasn't there, but I dreamed about it." Faith shuddered. She remembered waking up screaming in her jail cell, sweat oozing nastily from every poor. There had also been the terrifying feeling that if Willow hadn't been stopped there would have been no second chance. Just the whole world there one minute and gone the next. "Even Buffy couldn't stop her. In the end it was Xander forcing her to _choose_ not to destroy the world. So let's just say that Red getting her Wicked Witch of the West on is not a thing I'd want happening. Best not disturb her training if at all possible. Hopefully we can just whack this creep before he can do what he wants to."

"I…I've got some suspicions about who it might be," Elspeth said, moving her green beans around on her plate, the fork scraping lightly.

"Eh?" Faith let out a surprised noise and regarded Elspeth with a look. "Who?...How?...Wha.."

_I had a plan. Why am I telling her now?_ "I didn't want to mention right away," Elspeth turned her head away, avoiding Faith's gaze. "I was going to check it out on my own. But…"

"Who?" Faith asked, her voice was low and questioning, not judging

"I think it might be Mr. Edgewood." Elspeth admitted. She hurried to explain her reasoning. "It was his medicine bag that tipped me off. He was recruiting a shaman before he came here. It was in Arizona and I checked it out, there are Navajo out there. He might have found out about the magick while there. He also has access to the girls and their schedules in his duty as a Watcher. He…"

"Okay, whoa." Faith held out her hand, catching Elspeth's attention. "You think he might be the skin-walker?"

"I'm…I...you have to understand that I hate making completely un-thought-out, un-supported claims, Faith." Elspeth sighed and her shoulders slumped a little. Somehow that excuse sounded so lame right now. "I wanted to get better intelligence before reporting this to you."

"And how were you planning on getting this exactly?" Faith eyed her.

"I was going to meet with him after dinner and see if I could elicit some more information out of him," Elspeth explained calmly. For some reason she felt like a guilty child explaining her actions and fought not to squirm under Faith's gaze. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not helpless!"

"No, you're not," Faith agreed. "But you're also talking about going after a thing that's taken out two slayers without them being able to really fight back. You were talking to me yesterday about using my resources, you should use yours. You've got a whole school of slayers and witches, not to mention the Head Slayer is a good friend of yours. What would you advise in this situation?"

"It's no fair to turn my own good advice back on me," Elspeth grumbled, feeling stupid. _You know better than this, Harsgrove. You shouldn't get so caught up in trying to impress Faith that you end up dead! _"Alright, do you want to help me check him out, O Mighty Slayer?"

"Sure," Faith smirked. "I'm always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need."

"I'll give you need," Elspeth slapped at her from across the table, missing as Faith gracefully ducked back in time. "I don't want to make a big deal of this, though. It might turn out to be nothing and then I'd feel like a complete idiot in front of everyone."

"Yeah," Faith drawled, "Now you can just look like an idiot in front of me."

"Bitch," Elspeth smiled fondly at her.

"You know it." Having had the last word; the head slayer stood up, grabbed both their trays and sauntered off.

…..

Kyle Edgewood walked down the hall toward his room. His meeting with Elspeth wasn't until after dinner and he certainly didn't feel like eating in the cafeteria tonight. His patience toward his new charge was thinning. The poor thing had gone and gotten herself Chosen, God knows how; and here he was trying to do his best to help her. But was she happy, was she appreciative at all? No! She just looked down on him (though how she did that from her chair, he had no idea) with that superior expression and insulted him at every turn.

"Why it's young Mr. Edgewood!" Kyle looked up from his brooding to see Dr. Barker ambling toward him. The husky older man was smiling genially. "How are you on this fine day, Dr. Edgewood?"

"I'm doing very well, Dr. Barker." _Now here is a man who knows how to treat a fellow professional, _he thought to himself. _Unlike some other people I know._ "How are you?"

"Just fine! Just fine!" Dr. Barker waved him off, his teeth flashing white against his tanned skin. "Just finishing up my rounds down in the clinic. My, do those girls have a lot of energy."

"Tell me about it," Kyle struggled a bit to keep the sour note out of his voice. It was a great honor to be assigned a slayer. That had been drummed into him from the time he was born. "I have trouble keeping up some days."

"Bet your glad you have Dr. Harsgrove sometimes," Dr. Barker said and Kyle had to hold back a grimace.

"She's doesn't require much supervision, that's true." Kyle replied tightly. _Not that I can _find_ her to supervise her, anyway. _

"I'm just so amazed by how well she works on her physical therapy," Dr. Barker beamed like a proud parent.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"Well," the doctor went on, "every time I go down for my rounds, she's coming out of the clinic. It's hard to get some disabled patients to keep up with their condition, but she seems to have it all under control. And Dr. Adyn seems dedicated to helping her, too."

"Ohhh?" Kyle's interest was piqued. Why wasn't Elspeth using the regular gym to do her workouts? He'd seen her in the one back at Princeton a few times, so why the special treatment now? _I'll have to check this out. _"It's good to hear that. I'm sorry, Dr. Barker, but I'm going to have to leave you now. I have something I need to check out in the library for one of my slayers."

"So busy, you Watchers." Dr. Barker waved him past. "Good luck."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Barker." Kyle said offhand. His mind was distracted by this new information so he didn't see Dr. Barker eye him oddly and shake his head slightly before moving on.

Kyle entered the clinic silently, keeping the door from swinging shut on its own by bracing it with his right hand. He didn't really have a plan, just a vague niggling in the back of his head that something was going on. Something had seemed off about Elspeth Harsgrove to him ever since he'd met her. Things had just come so easy to her. There was no way someone so young and obviously impaired could have been smarter than him, it was impossible. He padded back through the main part of the clinic toward Dr. Adyn's office on soft feet.

The doctor's office was located in the back left of the clinic and its large glass windows usually gave him an unobstructed view of the floor. But today the blinds were down and though they were slanted open; the doctor was sitting on his desk, facing away from them. Kyle crept up to the window and peered inside to see Dr. Adyn watching the large flat screen on his back wall. In one hand he held a small remote and he seemed to be talking to himself.

"Entry number twenty in Dr. Elspeth Harsgrove's case." He dictated. "As previously noted, Dr. Harsgrove has been quickly regaining feeling and motor control in her lower region. This area was previously disabled and lacking most functions. For more detail, see previous case notes, section B."

"As you'll note in the video the patient has made major progress." Dr. Adyn pressed a button on the remote and the flat screen flickered to life. Kyle gapped as he saw the Elspeth on the screen grasp the rails of her chair and push herself up. The Dr. Adyn on the screen hovered in the background a bit, obviously waiting to catch her if she fell. But she didn't. A huge grin split her face as she stood on her own, shaking a bit every now and then, but still standing.

"It's a bit premature at this juncture," the doctor continued mercilessly, "but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for Elspeth to regain her full walking ability. Whether she progresses to full slayer capability is still to be seen, but not impossible…."

Kyle stumbled back from the window, missing what was said next. His hand clapped to his mouth, he ran out of the clinic like the hounds of hell were on his feet.

...

Author's Note:

I won't give any excuses for being late. Summer camp has started and my hours here are insane so for the next three months or so I might be late. I decided to put this half of the chapter out to give you guys _something_! Thanks for those of you who are hanging on with me and my crazy schedule and weird life. This stories winding up and I do promise to finish it.

To those of you who have questioned about the direct sequel to Empowered; I have started outlining it and doing research. I'm gonna go a little different and do a crossover this time, though I won't tell you with what yet;) Should you have any suggestions or such I look forward to hearing them.

As always, thanks to those who are reading and keep the feedback coming (I work better under pressure;)

OMAKE:

Friend #1: What in the world are you doing?

Author: Riding a horse.

Friend #1: I can see that, but what do you have up there with you?

Author: looks down...A bow and some arrows.

Friend #1: I'm afraid to ask...but why?

Author: Horseback Archery!

Friend #1: Oh God, just don't kill yourself...please!

(Actual conversation...and it was really fun!)

….


End file.
